Photocatalytic and electrochemical sensor study of combustion synthesized bismuth oxide (Bi2O3) nanoparticles using lemon and urea fuels

[Display omitted] •Synthesis of bismuth oxide NPs (Bi2O3 NPs) by solution combustion process.•Bi2O3 NPs exhibited crystallite sizes of 53.34 nm and 44.83 nm, synthesized with urea and lemon juice fuels.•Bi2O3 NPs showed good photocatalytic behavior for Rose Bengal (RB), Acid Orang-88 (AO-88) and Crystal Violet (CV) dyes.•Modified Bi2O3NPs electrode revealed superior electrochemical sensing for ascorbic acid. The solution combustion approach to synthesize bismuth oxide (Bi2O3) nanoparticles using urea and lemon fuels is demonstrated in this work. The product exhibits a monoclinic phase confirmed by the powdered X-ray diffraction pattern analysis. The Scherrer’s approach reveals that the crystallite size was within the range of 40–60 nm and matches transmission electron microscopy (TEM) data. The high energy electron microscopy techniques such as TEM and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) along with energy dispersive X-ray (EDAX), are used for the surface morphology and elemental analysis. The bandgap energy (Eg) values were determined using Diffuse Reflection Spectroscopy (DRS). The synthesized nanoparticles exhibit greater photodegradation efficiency when exposed to Acid Orange-88 (AO-88), Crystal violet (CV) and Rose Bengal (RB) dyes under UV light. The electrochemical sensor studies involve the detection and quantification of ascorbic acid in an acidic medium with the help of cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) by modification of carbon paste electrode. These findings indicate that the synthesized sample has potential applications in photocatalytic and electrochemical sensor fields.