Chemical and Plant Mediated Synthesis of La2O3 Nanoparticles and Comparison of their Structural, Antibacterial, Photocatalytic and Optical Properties

Abstract

The La2O3 nanoparticles have been synthesized successfully with a chemical and biosynthesized method. The optical bandgap energy and of chemically synthesized or biosynthesized (M. oppositifolia and T. portlacaustrum leaf extract) La2O3 nanoparticles was calculated from UV-visible absorption between 5.10, 4.26 and 4.46 eV. The good polycrystalline cubic nature of synthesized La2O3 nanoparticles was evident from the bright circular SAED pattern, consistent with the XRD outcome. It is clear that the non-polar extracts could function as stabilizers for La2O3 nanoparticles through attachment to the counterions. The La2O3 nanoparticles have been used as efficient photocatalyst to degrade acid black 1 dye under sunlight irradiation. Besides, this biocatalyst showed excellent ability to degrade biosynthesized La2O3 nanoparticles (T. portlacaustrum) under visible light irradiation 87%. Synthesis of La2O3 nanoparticles by green chemistry process presented good antibacterial activity against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria.