Enhancing the effectiveness of basil seed-TiO2/rGO nanocomposites for multifunctional dye removal in wastewater

Abstract

Clean water source is contaminated by industrial wastewater effluent which directly discharge into water stream. Combination of adsorption-photocatalytic is one of the preferable techniques for treating methylene blue (MB) dye wastewater. In this study, hydrothermal method was utilised in order to synthesis titanium oxide (TiO 2 ) nanoparticles. The synthesis of rGO was conducted by Hummer’s method by using lemon extract. Both of synthesised TiO 2 and rGO were characterised by FESEM, EDX, HRTEM and XRD. The TiO 2 /rGO nanocomposite with different weight of rGO was immobilised on green super adsorbent basil seed via facile physical adhesion method. Sample basil-TiO 2 /rGO exhibit better degradation of MB with > 90% within 180 min. The B-T-0.3rGO nanocomposite showed the highest photocatalytic activities and uptake capacity with the concentration of 139.36 mg g −1 better than the TiO 2 (49 mg g −1 ) and basil seed (37 mg g −1 ) alone. The B-T-0.3rGO nanocomposite showed strong antibacterial activity (6.02 mm 2 inhibition zone) and, when reused as a fertilizer, boosted mung bean plant growth to 17.47 cm in height after eight days. This research works can be a novel approach by using green, eco-friendly and reusable materials in photocatalytic degradation, antibacterial activities and agriculture by minimizing waste generations. Graphical abstract

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