Preparation and Characterization of Magnesium Oxide Nanoparticles and Its Application for Photocatalytic Removal of Rhodamine B and Methylene Blue Dyes
Jayakaran Pachiyappan, Nirmala Gnanansundaram, Selvaraju Sivamani, Naveen Prasad Balakrishna Pillai Sankari, Nachiappan Senthilnathan, Gizachew Assefa Kerga
Abstract
In this research work, MgO nanoparticles were synthesized by a single‐step coprecipitation approach using Kappaphycus alvarezii extract as stabilizer. The synthesized MgO nanoparticles exhibit cubic crystal structure, which were confirmed by XRD and FTIR. The purity of MgO nanomaterials was confirmed by P‐XRD. The diffraction crests of MgO nanomaterials are in accordance with customary patterns of pure MgO (JCPDS No.00–004‐0821). Electron microscopic analysis demonstrated the appearance of MgO nanoflakes. The UV‐DRS was used to calculate the optical band gap of MgO nanoparticles and found to be 4.71 eV. MgO nanoparticles have substantial photocatalytic activity for the deterioration of rhodamine B (RhB) and methylene blue (MB) dyes under visible light irradiation. The experimental data fitted first‐order kinetics and around >95% degeneration of both dyes was achieved by photocatalysis using synthesized MgO nanoparticles. Thus, the data obtained from this research can effectively be utilized in large‐scale industrial applications during wastewater treatments.