Wastewater treatment is an unavoidable necessity and
requires immediate
action with the aim of saving future generations from water crises
and ensuring the sustainability of clean and drinkable water. In the
present work, green synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs)
was carried out from fruit extract of
Hylocereus undatus
to observe its photocatalytic activity towards two azo dyes, namely,
Metanil yellow and Orange II dye. IONPs served as an efficient photocatalyst
for the degradation of Metanil yellow dye, and the reaction followed
pseudo-first-order kinetics. The effect of the initial dye concentration,
amount of photocatalyst added, and effect of pH on photocatalytic
degradation of Metanil yellow and Orange II dye using IONPs was studied.
The results were compiled to reveal the most effective conditions
for degradation to occur. A computational study of two dyes using
DFT (Density Functional Theory) calculations were also performed to
calculate thermodynamic properties such as the free energy, dipole
moment, HOMO–LUMO energy gap, chemical potential, global hardness,
softness, global electrophilicity index, ionization potential, electron
affinity, etc. These parameters were used to describe the reactivity
of dye toward the active photocatalytic species responsible for the
degradation of dye. Natural population analysis was also performed,
and Fukui indices were also calculated to explain the possible attacking
sites of dyes by active photocatalytic species.