Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2016) 131: 154
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2016-16154-y

Regular Article

Fruit juice extract mediated synthesis of CeO₂ nanoparticles for antibacterial and photocatalytic activities

¹ Dept. of Chemistry, BMS Institute of Technology, 560064, Bangalore, India
² Dept. of Chemistry, Siddaganga Institute of Technology, 572103, Tumkur, India
³ Center for Nano and Materials Sciences, Jain University, 562112, Bangalore, India
⁴ Dept. of Chemistry, M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology, 560012, Bangalore, India
⁵ Dept. of Physics, Siddaganga Institute of Technology, 572103, Tumkur, India
⁶ Dept. of Environmental Science, Tumkur University, 572101, Tumkur, India
⁷ Prof. CNR Rao Center for Advanced Materials, Tumkur University, 572101, Tumkur, India

^* e-mail: nagarajugn@rediffmail.com

Received: 13 November 2015
Revised: 14 March 2016
Accepted: 4 April 2016
Published online: 18 May 2016

Abstract

Ceria ( CeO₂ is a technologically important rare-earth material because of its unique properties and various engineering/biological applications. In the present work, cerium oxide nanoparticles have been prepared by a simple solution combustion method using watermelon juice as a novel combustible fuel. The structure and morphology of the synthesized CeO₂ nanoparticles were analyzed using various analytical tools such as PXRD, FTIR, Raman, UV-Visible and SEM. PXRD pattern confirms that the prepared material is composed of cubic-phase cerium oxide nanoparticles. Photocatalytic degradation of Methylene blue dye using CeO₂ nanoparticles shows 98% of degradation in UV irradiations. Furthermore the antibacterial properties of CeO₂ nanoparticles were investigated by their bacterial activity against two bacterial strains using the agar well diffusion method.