Green synthesis of iron nanoparticles using Artocarpus heterophyllus peel extract and their application as a heterogeneous Fenton-like catalyst for the degradation of Fuchsin Basic dye

ABSTRACT Synthesis of nanoparticles by utilizing some of the green chemistry principles offers a viable and sustainable approach for nanotechnology. Iron nanoparticles (Fe NPs) were synthesised using Artocarpus heterophyllus (Jackfruit) peel extract. The peel, with its high antioxidant content, serves as a potential source of valuable biomolecules which act as the bio-reductants, capping and stabilizing agents for green synthesis of nanoparticles. The method, apart from using non toxic reactant materials and being cost effective, utilizes waste usefully and in the process reduces waste accumulation. The iron nanoparticles synthesised using jackfruit peel extract (Fe NPs-JF) were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-Ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) techniques. The nanoparticles so synthesised comprised of zero-valent iron nanoparticles (nZVI) along with iron oxides and oxyhydroxide, with an average size of 33 nm. Further, the efficacy of synthesised nanoparticles as Fenton-like catalyst has been demonstrated in the degradation of pollutant dyes like Fuchsin Basic. The experiment showed that these iron nanoparticles exhibited excellent catalytic activity with a high removal efficiency of 87.5% in initial 20 minutes at 318 K. In addition, removal of Fuchsin Basic dye fitted well to be a pseudo-first order model. On the basis of the activation energy for the oxidative degradation of the dye calculated using Arrhenius equation, it could be inferred that dye degradation followed a surface-controlled reaction wherein the rate-limiting step constituted a surface-chemical reaction instead of diffusion.