Greener approach towards the synthesis of titanium dioxide nanostructures with exposed {001} facets for enhanced visible

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Greener approach towards the synthesis of titanium dioxide nanostructures with exposed {001} facets for enhanced visible light photodegradation of organic pollutants Anu K. John1, Shiny Palaty1,* 1 2

, and Sreekala S. Sharma1,2

Department of Chemistry, Bharata Mata College, Thrikkakara, Kochi, Kerala 682021, India Department of Chemistry, Sree Sankara Vidyapeedom College, Valayanchirangara, Kerala 683556, India

Received: 12 March 2020

ABSTRACT

Accepted: 3 October 2020

Green chemistry is considered as an effective alternative for the conventional chemistry in the perspective of environmental sustainability. The principles of green chemistry can be applied to the field of nanotechnology especially for the synthesis of nanomaterials. In the current work, we have demonstrated an ecofriendly and inexpensive plant-mediated green method for the synthesis of visible light active titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles with exposed highenergy {001} facets using the leaf extract of Chromolaena Odorata. The synthesized nanoparticles were analyzed using UV–Vis spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), FTIR spectroscopy, Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and high-resolution transmission electron spectroscopy (HRTEM). Studies showed that phytochemicals present in the plant extract act as both reducing agent and capping agent in the synthesis. The photocatalytic activity of the synthesized materials was determined by analyzing the photodegradation of four different dyes such as methylene blue, fuchsine, crystal violet, and rhodamine 6G. All the dyes showed more than 85% degradation in 180 min. When compared with the chemically synthesized materials, the green synthesized TiO2 showed a better photocatalytic activity. The superior photocatalytic performance of the sample is mainly attributed to the presence of defects and co-existence of {001} and {101} facets. The method described here leads to a new route for the synthesis of visible light active TiO2 nanoparticles with exposed {001} facets.

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Springer Science+Business

Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020

Address correspondence to E-mail: [email protected]

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-020-04602-1

J Mater Sci: Mater Electron

1 Introduction Metal oxide nanomaterials play a significant role in nanotechnology due to their diverse physico-chemical properties and wide range of applications. Titanium dioxide is one of the most studied metal oxide nanomaterial with fascinating catalytic, optical, and electronic properties [1, 2]. The applications of TiO2 include catalysis, energy harvest and storage, sensing, water purification, self-cleaning etc [3–8]. The photo catalytic activity of TiO2 depends on its size, shape, morphology, and composition [9]. These factors can be fine tuned by the careful selection of synthesis methodology. Generally, nanoparticles can be synthesized by physical, chemical, biological, or hybrid methods based on the theory underlying in it. Physical methods include physical vapor deposition, laser ablati