Photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B using green-synthesized ZnO nanoparticles from Sechium edule polysaccharides

Degradation of hazardous dye effluents released from various industries has received lot of attention because of their serious health hazards. Herein, we report the synthesis of ZnO NPs using crude polysaccharides of Sechium edule fruits for photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB). The fruits of S. edule were used as a source to extract polysaccharides by hot water method. The ZnO NPs synthesis was carried out by green chemistry route using extracted crude polysaccharides. The optical, morphological and chemical characteristics of ZnO NPs were characterized using UV–Vis spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, field-emission scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. FE-SEM revealed that the green-synthesized ZnO NPs having spherical- and triangle-shaped morphology with an average size of 30–100 nm. EDS showed the existence of Zn (51.64%), O (42.38%) and C (5.98%) elements. Photocatalytic ability of ZnO NPs was studied by the degradation of RhB under visible light irradiation. The ZnO NPs showed 95% degradation efficiency of RhB after 75 min under visible light irradiation and also exhibited good reusable stability up to 5 cycles. The greater photocatalytic activity and reusability show that the ZnO NPs synthesized using polysaccharides of S. edule fruits could be a promising photocatalyst in wastewater treatment and other remediation applications.