GREEN SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF TiO2NANOPARTICLES USING Lonchocarpus cyanescens

Abstract

This study describes the synthesis of titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanoparticles using green techniques with Lonchocarpus cyanescens extract as a sustainable, non-toxic, and cost-effective alternative to conventional chemical methods. The optical, functional, and morphological properties of the synthesized TiO₂ nanoparticles were characterized using UV-Visible spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM).The green-synthesized TiO₂ nanoparticles’ FTIR spectrum showed a prominent absorption band at 1024 cm–1, which corresponds to C–O stretching vibrations commonly found in alcohols, carboxylic acids, esters, and ethers; additionally, peaks at 1024 and 493 cm–1 were attributed to Ti–O stretching and Ti–O–Ti bridging vibrations, respectively; the clear peak at 493 cm–1 verified the successful formation of TiO₂ nanoparticles. The optical band gap of the synthesised nanoparticles was examined using UV-Visible spectroscopy, demonstrating the efficacy of the green synthesis approach in developing optically active TiO₂ nanomaterials. The photo absorption characteristics of TiO₂ nanoparticles was analysed across a wavelength range of 200–800 nm. The results exhibited a prominent absorption peak at 225 nm with an absorbance below 1, confirming the successful synthesis of pure TiO₂ nanoparticles. The surface morphological studies of the TiO2 nanoparticles was carried out using (SEM) and it reveals that the synthesized TiO2 particles were in spherical in shape and aggregated into an irregular structure. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of TiO₂ nanoparticles indicates that the calculated average crystallite size for pure TiO₂ is around 12.9 nm.