Biosynthesis of Gold Nanoparticles (AuNPs) with Dimrit Raisin Extract and Their Degradation Activity for Water Contaminants

AuNPs are being conventionally synthesized by traditional methods (physical and/or chemical) with preferred and well-defined morphology, size and shape. On the other hand, it has been reported that these methods involve difficult reaction conditions and/or toxic chemicals. In this study, an easy, cost effective and more environmentally and biological-friendly method was described for the synthesis of gold nanoparticles with Dimrit raisin extract for the first time. The effects of some experimental parameters, such as concentrations of both raisin extracts and Au solutions, synthesis time and synthesis temperature were investigated for the synthesis of AuNPs. The synthesized AuNPs were extensively characterized by UV-Visible spectrometer, Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD) and Fourier transform–infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). TEM results show spherical along with triangular and hexagonal shaped nanoparticles with an average size of 15 nm. Large amounts of toxic dyes are used in the different industrial area and dyes posed a threat for water sources. Therefore, it has become imperative to develop inexpensive and environmentally friendly methods to remove dyes from water. In recent years, degradation using green synthesized nanoparticles has become an efficient method to remove dyes from the water sources. In this study, the catalytic activity of the AuNPs for the degradation of both methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) dyes were also studied and AuNPs behaved as effective catalysts for both degradations of MB and MO dyes in terms of percentage removal and kinetics. The experiment results showed that AuNPs can be employed as strong candidate in wastewater treatment studies.