Plant-based synthesis of cerium oxide nanoparticles using Rheum turkestanicum extract and evaluation of their cytotoxicity and photocatalytic properties

ABSTRACT

Bio-synthesis of cerium (IV) oxide nanoparticles (CeO₂-NPs) has been performed through a sol-gel method that involved the utilization of Rheum Turkestanicum plant extract as the stabilizing agent.  The obtained nanoparticles have been identified throughout FT-IR, UV-Vis, XRD, FESEM/EDX/PSA, and TGA/DTA techniques. The XRD pattern has been presented the cubic fluorite structure of CeO₂-NPs, which had indicated the particle size about 30 nm.  The UV-Vis spectrum of nanoparticles has presented a strong adsorption band. The FESEM/PSA images have exhibited the spherical shape of CeO₂-NPs. Furthermore, the photocatalytic activity of CeO₂-NPs has been investigated by performing the decolorization of MB, RhB, and MO dyes under UVA light, which are associated with sewage water pollutants. The results of MTT assay has reported that the cytotoxicity effect of CeO₂-NPs on PC12 cell lines had not been dependent on concentration, as well as an indication of the lack of any significant toxicity by the nanoparticles on cancer cells.

KEYWORDS:

• Cerium (IV) oxide nanoparticles
• Rheum turkestanicum plant extract
• photocatalytic activity and dyes degradation
• cytotoxicity

Acknowledgments

This study is the results of a research project and thesis presented for a post-doc student (Zahra Sabouri). This project was financially supported by Vice Chancellor for Research (Grant no. 960810), Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Credit authorship contribution statement

Zahra Sabouri: Investigation, design, and perform experiments, software, writing – original draft, formal analysis.

Mohammad Sabouri: Data curation, writing – review and editing.

Mohammad Sadegh Amiri: Data curation, writing – review and editing.

Mehrdad Khatami: Data curation, Writing - review & editing.

Majid Darroudi: Supervision, project administration, validation, writing – review and editing.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Mashhad University of Medical Sciences [960810].