Green Synthesis of α-Fe₂O₃ Nanoparticles Mediated Musa Acuminata: A Study of Their Applications as Photocatalytic Degradation and Antibacterial Agent

The present study was aimed to green synthesize of α-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles (NPs) using flower extract of Musa acuminata and examination of their antibacterial and photocatalytic activities. The synthesized NPs were investigated using UV-visible spectroscopy, which exhibited a colour change pattern, and the maximum absorption peak at 265 nm confirmed the formation of α-Fe₂O₃ NPs. The FTIR analysis showed the presence of various functional groups coated over the synthesized α-Fe₂O₃ NPs. The XRD pattern showed that the formation of rhombohedral structure with an average crystallite size was 21.86 nm. FESEM micrographs revealed that α-Fe₂O₃ NPs were roughly spherical in shape. EDX spectrum confirmed the presence of Fe and O elements. By TEM analysis, the average particle size was calculated to be 32 nm. Using the well diffusion method, the antibacterial activity of α-Fe₂O₃ NPs was tested against both gram positive and negative bacterial strains of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Escherichia coli (E. coli). The NPs exhibited good antibacterial activity against the tested bacteria. Finally, the synthesized α-Fe₂O₃ NPs demonstrated the photocatalytic degradation of Crystal Violet (CV) dye under sunlight. The efficiency of degradation within 150 min was determined to be 90.27% for CV. This effective removal method under sunlight may support a cost-effective method for degradation of CV dyes from wastewater.