Bi 2 O 3 nanoparticles: phytogenic synthesis, effect of calcination on physico-chemical characteristics and photocatalytic activity

ABSTRACTThe present work reported the bioinspired synthesis of Bi2O3 nanoparticles (NPs) using Ziziphus mauritiana leaves aqueous extract at four annealing temperatures (300, 400, 500, and 600C°) and examined annealing temperatures effect of on various physicochemical characteristics and photocatalytic activities of NPs. The XRD and Raman results reveal the existence of α and β polymorphs of Bi2O3 in all samples but with increase of calcination temperature the extent of α-phase, particle size, and crystallinity were increased while band gap value decreased. The BET results confirmed the mesoporous structure of all samples. Further, decolorization experiments conducted with crystal violet (CV) dye showed an observable effect of annealing temperature on the adsorption and photocatalytic efficacy of the prepared samples, and the utmost (99.88 %) removal of CV dye was computed with the Bi2O3 nanoparticles calcined at 300oC (B-300). The main active species involved in the photo-mineralization of dye was h+ followed by •OH..KEYWORDS: Bi2O3ziziphus mauritianacalcination temperaturephotocatalytic efficiencycrystal violet dye AcknowledgmentsThe authors are grateful to the University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, for providing infrastructural support. The technical assistance for this study was provided by MNIT, Jaipur Campus, and CAF, Manipal University, Jaipur.Disclosure statementThe authors declare that they do not have any conflict of interests among them.Supplementary materialSupplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/14328917.2023.2258469