Facile green synthesis of magnesium oxide nanoparticles using tea (Camellia sinensis) extract for efficient photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye

Herein, we report, for the first time, the synthesis, characterization, and the photocatalytic methyl blue dye degradation performance of magnesium oxide (MgO) nanoparticles (NPs) synthesized by a facile green approach using Camellia sinensis (tea leaves) extract as a reducing agent. The as-prepared materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), which confirmed the large-scale synthesis of well crystalline cubic crystalline phase MgO NPs. Rietveld refinement analysis of the XRD pattern was done to determine the crystallographic parameters of the MgO NPs and to investigate lattice defects. Microstrain, lattice stress, and energy density were calculated using Williamson–Hall analysis The synthesized nanoparticles exhibited over 97% photocatalytic degradation efficiency of methylene blue (MB) dye. Complementary density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed the favorable formation of O2− radicals on the MgO (001) surface as the drivers of the MB dye degradation.