Effects of Different Biosynthesis Methods on the Structural and Optical Properties of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles and Photocatalytic Application

A simple chemical technique and the sol-gel method were used to manufacture iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs). Conocarpus extract converts iron salts into IONPs. The process changes iron oxide NPs from FeCl2+FeCl3 to β-Fe2O3.β-Fe2O3 NPs remove methylene blue from water. SEM, UV-Vis, PL, and XRD were used to identify IONPs. Chemically produced β-Fe2O3 NPs have an average crystallite size of 10.910730 nm, while Sol-gel-produced NPs are 18.834940 nm. In the simple chemical procedure, the grain size was (4.4 to 205.7) nm and averaged 47.2 nm. In sol-gel, it was (9.1 to 308) nm and averaged 53 nm. Utilizing simple chemicals, the energy gap grew from 1.94 to 3.33 eV, and using sol-gel, it grew from 1.94 to 3.16 eV. Photoluminescence (PL) measurements showed that sol-gel approach created β-Fe2O3 nanoparticles had a near band edge emission of 2.75 eV, while the simple chemical process had 2.72 eV. In this experiment, light-exposed NPs broke down MB dye photo catalytically. Sol-gel produces 77.2% degradation at 75 minutes for 3 mg and 88.6% at 150 minutes for 5 mg, while simple chemical produces 43.1% at 75 minutes for 3 mg and 51.7% at 150 minutes for 5 mg.