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 (TiO2) nanoparticles. The synthesis of rGO was conducted by Hummer’s method by using lemon extract. Both of synthesised TiO2 and rGO were characterised by FESEM, EDX, HRTEM and XRD. The TiO2/rGO nanocomposite with different weight of rGO was immobilised on green super adsorbent basil seed via facile physical adhesion method. Sample basil-TiO2/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 TiO2 (49 mg g−1) and basil seed (37 mg g−1) alone. The B-T-0.3rGO nanocomposite showed strong antibacterial activity (6.02 mm2 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.