Biogenic gold nanoparticles via Aloe vera waste: a sustainable catalyst for water treatment.
- 1Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, Campus Ecotekne Via per Monteroni 73100 Lecce Italy [email protected] [email protected].
- 2Institute of Nanotechnology (CNR-NANOTEC), Campus Ecotekne Via per Monteroni 73100 Lecce Italy.
- 3Department of Mathematics and Physics "E. De Giorgi", Campus Ecotekne Via per Monteroni 73100 Lecce Italy.
Abstract
Starting from the serious environmental problems associated with the growing increase of pollution, the present study investigates a sustainable and eco-friendly approach to water treatment by synthesizing green gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) starting from Aloe barbadensis Miller (Aloe vera) waste (AVW). Bioactive compounds naturally present in AVW were extracted in water at different temperatures (25-90 °C). The extract prepared at 90 °C was identified as the most suitable for stable AuNPs formation, containing higher amounts of reducing and stabilizing agents such as α- and β-glucose, sucrose and malic acid, as confirmed by 1H-NMR studies. The appearance of a typical plasmonic band at 560 nm confirmed the success of AuNPs synthesis. Selected-area electron diffraction and transmission electron microscopy analyses demonstrated the crystalline nature of the synthesized AuNPs with an average diameter of 10 nm and with a zeta potential of -32.3 mV. Moreover, FTIR analysis revealed the presence of an organic layer around the AuNPs, also confirmed from UV-vis analysis. Methylene blue (MB), rhodamine b (ROb), methyl orange (MO) and 4-nitrophenol (4NP) were selected as water pollutant models to test their catalytic activity. The results obtained showed the high capacity of green AuNPs to speed up the reduction rate following a pseudo first order kinetic with k values observed for MB, ROb, MO and 4NP of 0.32, 0.15, 0.09 and 0.04 min-1 respectively. This behavior remains highly efficient even when all pollutants are present simultaneously in a mixture, demonstrating their potential use also in complex matrices.
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BibTeX
@article{mergola2026biogenic,
title = {{Biogenic gold nanoparticles via Aloe vera waste: a sustainable catalyst for water treatment.}},
author = {Lucia Mergola and Agostina Lina Capodilupo and Antonio Serra and Daniela Manno and Alessandro Buccolieri and Roberta Del Sole},
journal = {RSC advances},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1039/d6ra09195d},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42953566},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Biogenic gold nanoparticles via Aloe vera waste: a sustainable catalyst for water treatment.
AU - Lucia Mergola
AU - Agostina Lina Capodilupo
AU - Antonio Serra
AU - Daniela Manno
AU - Alessandro Buccolieri
AU - Roberta Del Sole
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/28
JO - RSC advances
DO - 10.1039/d6ra09195d
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42953566
AB - Starting from the serious environmental problems associated with the growing increase of pollution, the present study investigates a sustainable and eco-friendly approach to water treatment by synthesizing green gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) starting from Aloe barbadensis Miller (Aloe vera) waste (AVW). Bioactive compounds naturally present in AVW were extracted in water at different temperatures (25-90 °C). The extract prepared at 90 °C was identified as the most suitable for stable AuNPs formation, containing higher amounts of reducing and stabilizing agents such as α- and β-glucose, sucrose and malic acid, as confirmed by 1H-NMR studies. The appearance of a typical plasmonic band at 560 nm confirmed the success of AuNPs synthesis. Selected-area electron diffraction and transmission electron microscopy analyses demonstrated the crystalline nature of the synthesized AuNPs with an average diameter of 10 nm and with a zeta potential of -32.3 mV. Moreover, FTIR analysis revealed the presence of an organic layer around the AuNPs, also confirmed from UV-vis analysis. Methylene blue (MB), rhodamine b (ROb), methyl orange (MO) and 4-nitrophenol (4NP) were selected as water pollutant models to test their catalytic activity. The results obtained showed the high capacity of green AuNPs to speed up the reduction rate following a pseudo first order kinetic with k values observed for MB, ROb, MO and 4NP of 0.32, 0.15, 0.09 and 0.04 min-1 respectively. This behavior remains highly efficient even when all pollutants are present simultaneously in a mixture, demonstrating their potential use also in complex matrices.
SN - 2046-2069
ER -