Green synthesis of carbon-doped zinc oxide using Garcinia mangostana peel extract: Characterization, photocatalytic degradation, and hydrogen peroxide production (vol 392, 136269, 2023)

Recent decades have cordially observed unprecedented events in the fields of photochemistry for water reme-diation and fine chemical production. In this study, we reported sustainable methods to fabricate carbon-doped zinc oxides (ZnO-C) using aqueous Garcinia mangostana peel extracts as a carbon source. Via the reinforcement of ZnO-C crystal structures with the employment of calcination techniques, ZnO-C accentuated better crystal-lization with average nanoparticle size of 25-70 nm. In addition to the introduction of carbon, the samples revealed the doping of heteroatoms such as N, S, and P simultaneously in ZnO structures originating from the phytochemicals in the extracts. It is observed that ZnO-C sample calcinated at 700 degrees C for 1 h gives out the best results for photoactivity. Moreover, the fabricated ZnO-C-700-1.0 exhibited a near complete removal towards methylene blue and malachite green, while removal of rhodamine B was 62.13% after 120 min using commercial UV light irradiation under pH 11 with the usage of 50 mg of catalyst. Further investigations of H2O2 photo-production also validated the versatile application of the materials with the highest H2O2 evolution rate reaching 38.75 mM/g.h. The techno-economical of H2O2 production using ZnO-C reveals the scale-up viability of the process. Moreover, MB removal efficiency of 92.13% and H2O2 production of 8.83 mM/g.h were observed for the optimal ZnO-C sample under visible light irradiation. Subsequently, these results reinforce the applicability of phytoextract as a green approach to reach sustainability for synthesis and modifying the optical structure of semiconducting materials for water remediation and H2O2 production.