Effect of Different Concentrations of Rosemary Extract on the Phase and Morphology of Zno Nanoparticles and Its Efficiency on Degradation of Methylene Blue Dye

In this research, Zinc oxide nanoparticles with semi-spherical morphology were synthesized by modified sol-gel method using rosemary extract as a stabilizing agent. The effect of the amount of rosemary extract and calcination temperature on size and shape of the particles was investigated. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and elemental analysis (EDX). X-ray diffraction results showed hexagonal structure (wurtzite phase) of zinc oxide. According to the SEM results semi-spherical nanoparticles of 18 nm in size were obtained using 75 ml of rosemary extract. The photocatalytic activity of the modified ZnO nanoparticles was investigated for degradation of the methylene blue dye solution. The results showed 96.87% of dye degradation in the 135 min that confirmed suitable efficiency of as-synthesized nanoparticles in the photocatalytic degradation process of dyes.