Bismuth oxide nanorods: phytochemical mediated one-pot synthesis and growth mechanism

Abstract

The biological synthesis has a lot to offer in the field of eco-friendly and sustainable nanomaterial synthesis techniques which can be employed in numerous applications. The present study reports the green synthesis of polydisperse Bismuth Oxide nanorods, using Ficus benghalensis leaf extract. This is the first report for the synthesis of rod-like nanostructured Bi2O3. The synthesized nanorods were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-vis spectroscopy (UV), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), to study in detail their structural, morphological, compositional properties. The confirmation of the synthesis of single-phase (α − Bi2O3), crystalline bismuth oxide was obtained by X-ray diffraction, with characteristic peaks at (1,1,0) and (1,2,0). UV-Vis results showed the wide bandgap, 3.13 eV, of the synthesized BONRs. The rod-like morphology of the product was confirmed by the SEM images, along with the average diameter of the nanorods which was found to be 388 nm. The detailed analysis of FTIR spectra concluded the role of leaf extract as a reducing and stabilizing agent.