Synthesis and Characterization of Nano-TiO2 using Aqueous Extract of Erythrina variegata Leaves

Abstract

In present work, the Erythrina variegata leaves extract acts as a reducing agent for the green synthesis of titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanoparticles. The characterization of the extracted TiO₂ nanoparticles were confirmed by ultraviolet spectral studies (UV-Vis), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDAX) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The UV-Vis absorption spectrum exhibited maximum absorbance peak at 317.6 nm, which supports the formation of TiO₂ nanoparticles. The optical band gap energy value has been determined as 2.35 eV. Further characterization by XRD supports the crystallinity and the incidence of peak at 25.28 ºC corresponds to 101 anatase form. The anatase phase TiO₂ sample having tetragonal structure with mean crystalline size was found to be 7.91 nm. Scanning electron microscope image supports the shape of the nanoparticles. These nanoparticles are having effective dye degradation ability with various time intervals. The green synthesized TiO₂ nanoparticles exhibits interesting photocatalytic efficacy on methylene blue dye under UV irradiation (using multi-lamp photo reactor) and antibacterial activity against pathogenic organisms like Streptococci, Staphylococci, E. coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.