Green synthesis of cuprous oxide nanoparticles for environmental remediation and enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity

In this work, we emphasize the green synthesis of cuprous oxide (Cu₂O) nanoparticles (NPs) by Fehling's route using banana (Musa acuminate) fruits where the formation of products by the involvement of natural ingredients is considered to be the solvent-free route. The as-synthesized Cu₂O samples were thoroughly characterized by various analytical techniques in order to fully understand the surface bonding and functional groups, optical properties, surface charges, phase purity and crystallinity, surface morphological features, and elemental analysis. On testing of the photocatalytic activity, the material is investigated to be p-type Cu₂O and exhibited highly efficient photocatalytic behavior due to the interfacial structure that tends to reduce the recombination rate of a photogenerated electron (e^-) - hole (h⁺) pairs. Further, we have explored this property for the degradation of organic contaminants, methylene blue and found that the material is very effective towards the photochemical degradation of pollutants.