Facile synthesis of trimetallic nanoparticles Au/CuO/ZnO using Vitex agnus-castus extract and their activity in degradation of organic dyes

ABSTRACT

Due to the increased interest in the biological synthesis of metal nanoparticles, whose application brings numerous benefits, this work is concerned with the biological synthesis of Au/CuO/ZnO trimetallic nanoparticles using Vitex agnus-castus extract. The formed nanoparticles were characterised by means of the Ultraviolet-Visible (UV-vis), Fourier Transform-Infrared (FT-IR), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) measurements. The Atomic Force Microscopy analysis showed the presence of nanoparticles of 5–25 nm in size. The size of nanoparticles determined by means of SEM was consistent with the results obtained by means of Atomic Force Microscopy. The TEM images indicated the presence of spherical trimetallic nanoparticles, which were locally agglomerated. The obtained Au/CuO/ZnO nanoparticles showed good catalytic activity in the reduction of methylene blue (MB) and crystal violet (CV).

KEYWORDS:

• Trimetallic nanoparticles
• biological synthesis
• Vitex agnus-castus

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work has been financed from grant for young researchers in 2016 of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.