Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Decorated on Arundo donax L. Plant Leaves Derived Silica Nanosheets for Enriched Catalytic Degradation of Organic Dye Under UV-Visible Light Irradiation

In this study, heterojunction photocatalysts made up of Arundo donax L. plant leaves are used to synthesized SiO2 nanosheets and ZnO nanoparticles were prepared by wet impregnation technique. The chemical structure and photocatalytic behaviour of the different weight% of SiO2@ZnO nanocomposite were studied using various analytical techniques. The interaction between ZnO NPs and SiO2 nanosheets plays a major role in the photocatalytic degradation of Rh B dye. As a result, SiO2@ZnO (0.75 Wt % @ 0.25 Wt %) NCs show outstanding stability and photocatalytic efficiency (95.47%) which is 1.88, 2.19, 1.25, 1.46 times higher than SiO2 nanosheets, ZnO NPs, SiO2@ZnO (0.25 Wt % @ 0.75 Wt %) and SiO2@ZnO (0.50 Wt % @ 0.50 Wt %) NCs, respectively. The strong interaction between green synthesized SiO2 nanosheets and ZnO NPs can easily enhance the separation of charge carriers. Sustainable synthetic SiO2@ZnO nanocomposite materials are low-cost and large-scale methods for producing UV-visible light responsive photocatalysts that are suitable for wastewater treatment.