Photocatalytic degradation of Congo red, Crystal violet and Textile Industrial effluent using cuprous oxide nanoparticles synthesized using root extract of Withania somnifera

Abstract

Abstract The photocatalytic activity of biofunctionalized yellow cuprous oxide nanoparticles (Cu2O NPs) for the breakdown of Congo red, Crystal violet and textile industrial effluent is being investigated in this research. We used root extract of Withania somnifera to synthesise Cu2O NPs, which resulted in spherical, monodispersed Cu2O NPs with an average diameter of 410 nm. In the presence of a reducing agent sodium borohydrate and Cu2O NPs, we performed photocatalytic degradation of Congo red and Crystal violet. After treatment with both sodium borohydrate and Cu2O NPs, UV-Visible Spectrophotometry revealed that 66.15 percent Congo red and 66.58 percent Crystal violet were degraded, respectively. The treatment of industrial effluent with Cu2O NPs showed production of degradation by-products and significant removal of toxic heavy metals as evident from the Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) and Inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) analysis respectively. Industrial effluent treated with Cu2O NPs had shown to have significantly less detrimental effect on HEK cell lines as evident from the MTT assay.