Valorization of rambutan peel for the synthesis of silver-doped titanium dioxide (Ag/TiO2) nanoparticles

Abstract In this article, silver-doped titanium dioxide nanoparticles (Ag/TiO 2 NPs) were synthesized in an ecologically and economically favorable way using rambutan ( Nephelium lappaceum L.) peel extracts along with the study of its photocatalytic activity on methylene blue (MB) dye and antioxidant efficacy against 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH·). A wide range of analytical techniques including UV-vis spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy analysis were performed to ascertain the synthesis of Ag/TiO 2 NPs. The synthesized Ag/TiO 2 NPs enhanced the photocatalytic degradation of MB (81.6%, k=0.002495 min -1 ) under direct solar light irradiation. The results showed that discarded agricultural waste as rambutan peel can be utilized as natural bioreductant in future materials science applications.