Utilization of photocatalytic ZnO nanoparticles for deactivation of safranine dye and their applications for statistical analysis

•Photocatalysts ZnO-NPs were synthesized via solution process.•The efficiency of photocatalyst against SA dye was 70.39%.•Analytical determination was used to validate the photocatalytic study.•Photocatalysed suspension solution analyzed at low conc. (0.5–2.0 μg mL−1).•The LOD:LOQ limits were 0.060:0.182 μg mL−1 for nanoparticles.

A soft chemical solution process was used in synthesis of photocatalytic zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-PNPs) at low temperature. The synthesized PNPs were characterized in terms of their crystallinity, morphological, catalytic, spectroscopic and statistical analysis techniques. X-ray powder diffraction patterns (XRD) were used to know the crystalline property of the prepared materials whereas field emission electronic microscopy (FESEM) was employed to observe the morphology of grown NPs. UV–visible spectroscopy was employed to analyze the absorbance of degraded safranine (SA) dye in presence of NPs at desired time interval. Parameters of statistical analysis give necessary information for established analytical procedures to ensure quality and purity of results. With the help of this analytical method, outcomes were calculated in terms of absorbance such as standard deviation (SD), relative standard deviation (RSD), etc. at 95% confidence level. The photocatalytic deactivation/degradation process significantly enhanced the activity of ZnO-PNPs under UV–visible light in presence of SA dye. The effective concentration of used PNPs was optimized and validated via standard analytical procedure, which exhibited greater significance on deactivation process. The absorption spectra of photocatalyzed solution and activity of ZnO-PNPs were compared with those of pure ZnO, obtained by UV–visible spectroscopy.

Graphical abstractThe analytical techniques applied to quantify the concentration limit of photocatalysed solution (ZnO), which was highly effective for the deactivation of safranine dye.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide