Synthesis and Characterization of Nanoparticles of Zno, Carbon Dot and Zno-Carbon Dot Nanocomposite from Groundnut Shell Wastes

The objective of this paper was to biosynthesis and characterize nanoparticles of zinc oxide (ZnO NPs), carbon dots (C.dot), and zinc oxide carbon dot (ZnO-C.dot) nanocomposite from Groundnut Shells. The nanomaterials were characterized using different analytical techniques such as UV-visible spectrophotometry, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometry (FTIR), Energy DispersiveSspectrometry (EDX), Powdered X-ray Diffractometry (PXRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) respectively. The UV-visible spectra revealed that ZnONPs, C.dot, and ZnO-C.dot exhibited maximum absorption peaks at 372 nm, 235 nm, and 283 nm, respectively. The FTIR results of ZnONPs, C.dot, and ZnO-C.dot revealed strong reactive functional groups for OH and C=O with a high electron density. The EDX results revealed the elemental composition of the nanomaterials in weight percentages for each element. The SEM images of the synthesized nanomaterials revealed that ZnONP had a spherical shape, C. dot had a network-like shape, and ZnO-C dot had an irregular shape. According to TEM, the average particle size of the nanoparticles was 3.42 nm for ZnONP, 2.89 nm for C.dot, and 3.47 nm for ZnO-C.dot. The XRD spectra results showed that all of the nanomaterials were crystalline, with the exception of C. dot, which is amorphous.