Enhancing Green Reduction of Graphene Oxide by Nyctanthes arbor-tritis Leaves towards Degradation of Organic Pollutants and Tunable Fluorescence

The present study explored two energy efficient simple methods for the effective application of the anti-oxidant property of the leaf extract of Nyctanthes arbor-tristis,  a highly potent reduction of graphene oxide. The samples obtained from the green method were characterized in terms of structure, surface morphology and elemental composition. The data from the analytical tools of FTIR, FT-Raman, powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (FE-SEM with EDAX) and ultraviolet diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-DRS) studied the structure and property relationship and indicated the enhanced smooth layer structure of the synthesized samples. There was a drastic change in the surface morphology and more reduction in the oxygen functionality (C-O, C=O, O-H) of the synthesized sample of reduced graphene oxide (rGO). These results were indicative of their suitability for tunable fluorescence and catalytic activity. Hence the samples were screened for their efficiency in the degradation of organic dyes and chlorophenols. The results were satisfactory under the given experimental conditions. The results of the catalytic study ultimately provided a unique approach to the fabrication of catalyst for industrial wastewater treatment. The tunable luminescence study of assynthesized rGO can be further investigated for bioimaging of healthy and cancer cells in cell diagnosis and biomedical applications.