Phytoextract-assisted synthesis of Fe2O3/MgO nanocomposites for efficient photocatalytic degradation of gentian violet

Organic-based pollutants are extensively released from various industries and they potentially harm the environment and human health. Photocatalysis is regarded as one of the most promising techniques for removal of organic contaminants from wastewater. Therefore, in this study, iron oxide-based nanocomposites were synthesized by an emerging green and sustainable method using Ethiopian endemic plant extract, Echinops kebericho M. as a capping and stabilizing agent. The phytoextract-assisted synthesized nanoparticles (NPs) alpha-Fe2O3 and nanocomposites (NCs) alpha-Fe2O3/MgO calcinated at a temperature of 400 degrees C were characterized and used for their photocatalytic activities toward gentian violet (GV) dye degradation using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis) at optimized catalyst dose, initial GV concentration, pH, and time conditions. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis result revealed that the mean crystal size of alpha-Fe2O3 and alpha-Fe2O3/MgO is 11.2 and 15.4 nm, respectively. Characterization results of scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) clearly showed the successful deposition of MgO on alpha-Fe2O3. The maximum degradation of GV, 96.2%, was observed by using alpha-Fe2O3/MgO after 60 min under visible light irradiation. Thus, synthesized NCs were shown to have better GV degradation efficiency in a shorter time as compared to the previously reported nanomaterials. The results revealed photocatalytic degradation using endemic plant extract-assisted synthesized NCs, alpha-Fe2O3/MgO, is considered a greener, simple, and more efficient method for the removal of organic dyes.