Artemisia stelleriana -mediated ZnO nanoparticles for textile dye treatment: a green and sustainable approach

Textile effluents being one of the major reasons for water pollution raises major concern for water bodies and the habitation surrounding them. The lack of biologically safer treatment solutions creates a major concern for the disposal of these effluents. The present study focuses on the degradation of textile dyes using leaf extract of Artemisia stelleriana-assisted nanoparticles of zinc oxide (ZnO-NPs). ZnO NPs synthesized were confirmed using spectroscopic, X-ray diffraction and microscopic analysis. The current research utilizes widely used major textile dyes, Reactive Yellow-145 (RY-145), Reactive Red-120 (RR-120), Reactive Blue-220 (RB-220) and Reactive Blue-222A (RB-222A), which are released accidentally or due to the non-availability of cost-efficient, dependable and environment-friendly degradation methods, making this work a much-needed one for preventing the discharge before treatment. The biosynthesized ZnO-NPs were top-notch catalysts for the reduction of these dyes, which is witnessed by a gradual decrease in absorbance maximum values. After 320 min, ZnO-NPs under UV light exposure showed 99, 95, 94 and 45% degradations of RY-145, RR-120, RB-220 and RB-222A dyes, respectively. The phytotoxicity study conducted at two trophic levels revealed that the A. stelleriana-mediated ZnO-NPs have great potential for the degradation of textile dyes, allowing them to be scaled up to large-scale treatments.