Sustainable fabrication of introgen-doped carbon quantum dots from elaeis guineensis empty fruit bunches for solar photocatalysis towards organic dyes

Empty fruit bunches (EFB) are one of the palm oil mill’s most abundant sources of agricultural waste. Even though EFB has a high carbon, oxygen and hydrogen content, they are not well-explored for fabricating carbon-based nanoparticles. This study introduces a sustainable approach to fabricate nit...

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Main Author: Abd Rani, Umairah
Format: Final Year Project / Dissertation / Thesis
Published: 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:http://eprints.utar.edu.my/6230/
http://eprints.utar.edu.my/6230/1/Thesis_Umairah_Abd_Rani.pdf
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author Abd Rani, Umairah
author_facet Abd Rani, Umairah
author_sort Abd Rani, Umairah
building UTAR Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Empty fruit bunches (EFB) are one of the palm oil mill’s most abundant sources of agricultural waste. Even though EFB has a high carbon, oxygen and hydrogen content, they are not well-explored for fabricating carbon-based nanoparticles. This study introduces a sustainable approach to fabricate nitrogen-doped carbon quantum dots (NCQDs) through hydrothermal treatment using lignin extracted from EFB as a raw material. The performance and stability of the fabricated NCQDs from EFB were evaluated through photocatalysis. This study discusses the photocatalytic degradation of methyl green dye using NCQDs through the Taguchi approach. At room temperature and methyl green dye solution of pH 7, functionalized NCQDs performed as effective photocatalysts in degrading 99% of methyl green dye under UV-light irradiation (302 nm) within 20 min. The average particle size of NCQDs was found to be 3.4 nm. The NCQDs showed greenish-blue fluorescence under a UV lamp owing to their excellent optical properties and the optical properties of NCQDs remained unchanged after several hours of UV-light exposure. NCQDs fabricated from EFB showed outstanding stability and reactivity in which they could retain their photocatalytic capability by storing at 5 ºC for twelve months. Around 99% of methyl green dye could be degraded in the first cycle and the NCQDs could be reused in photocatalysis for at least five repeated cycles while maintaining their photo-degradability of methyl green at above 70%. The NCQDs produced from EFB successfully degraded 98% of malachite green, 97% of methylene blue and 50% of methyl orange within 120, 180, and 300 min of sunlight irradiation, respectively. The photocatalytic degradation rate of methylene blue and malachite green dyes followed first�order kinetics based on the Langmuir-Hinshelwood model. Meanwhile, the kinetic rate of degradation for methyl green dye followed the pseudo-second�order model. NCQDs fabricated from EFB biomass show great potential and stability in treating wastewater contaminated with organic dyes.
first_indexed 2025-11-15T19:41:25Z
format Final Year Project / Dissertation / Thesis
id utar-6230
institution Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-15T19:41:25Z
publishDate 2023
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling utar-62302024-03-11T13:19:25Z Sustainable fabrication of introgen-doped carbon quantum dots from elaeis guineensis empty fruit bunches for solar photocatalysis towards organic dyes Abd Rani, Umairah S Agriculture (General) SB Plant culture Empty fruit bunches (EFB) are one of the palm oil mill’s most abundant sources of agricultural waste. Even though EFB has a high carbon, oxygen and hydrogen content, they are not well-explored for fabricating carbon-based nanoparticles. This study introduces a sustainable approach to fabricate nitrogen-doped carbon quantum dots (NCQDs) through hydrothermal treatment using lignin extracted from EFB as a raw material. The performance and stability of the fabricated NCQDs from EFB were evaluated through photocatalysis. This study discusses the photocatalytic degradation of methyl green dye using NCQDs through the Taguchi approach. At room temperature and methyl green dye solution of pH 7, functionalized NCQDs performed as effective photocatalysts in degrading 99% of methyl green dye under UV-light irradiation (302 nm) within 20 min. The average particle size of NCQDs was found to be 3.4 nm. The NCQDs showed greenish-blue fluorescence under a UV lamp owing to their excellent optical properties and the optical properties of NCQDs remained unchanged after several hours of UV-light exposure. NCQDs fabricated from EFB showed outstanding stability and reactivity in which they could retain their photocatalytic capability by storing at 5 ºC for twelve months. Around 99% of methyl green dye could be degraded in the first cycle and the NCQDs could be reused in photocatalysis for at least five repeated cycles while maintaining their photo-degradability of methyl green at above 70%. The NCQDs produced from EFB successfully degraded 98% of malachite green, 97% of methylene blue and 50% of methyl orange within 120, 180, and 300 min of sunlight irradiation, respectively. The photocatalytic degradation rate of methylene blue and malachite green dyes followed first�order kinetics based on the Langmuir-Hinshelwood model. Meanwhile, the kinetic rate of degradation for methyl green dye followed the pseudo-second�order model. NCQDs fabricated from EFB biomass show great potential and stability in treating wastewater contaminated with organic dyes. 2023 Final Year Project / Dissertation / Thesis NonPeerReviewed application/pdf http://eprints.utar.edu.my/6230/1/Thesis_Umairah_Abd_Rani.pdf Abd Rani, Umairah (2023) Sustainable fabrication of introgen-doped carbon quantum dots from elaeis guineensis empty fruit bunches for solar photocatalysis towards organic dyes. PhD thesis, UTAR. http://eprints.utar.edu.my/6230/
spellingShingle S Agriculture (General)
SB Plant culture
Abd Rani, Umairah
Sustainable fabrication of introgen-doped carbon quantum dots from elaeis guineensis empty fruit bunches for solar photocatalysis towards organic dyes
title Sustainable fabrication of introgen-doped carbon quantum dots from elaeis guineensis empty fruit bunches for solar photocatalysis towards organic dyes
title_full Sustainable fabrication of introgen-doped carbon quantum dots from elaeis guineensis empty fruit bunches for solar photocatalysis towards organic dyes
title_fullStr Sustainable fabrication of introgen-doped carbon quantum dots from elaeis guineensis empty fruit bunches for solar photocatalysis towards organic dyes
title_full_unstemmed Sustainable fabrication of introgen-doped carbon quantum dots from elaeis guineensis empty fruit bunches for solar photocatalysis towards organic dyes
title_short Sustainable fabrication of introgen-doped carbon quantum dots from elaeis guineensis empty fruit bunches for solar photocatalysis towards organic dyes
title_sort sustainable fabrication of introgen-doped carbon quantum dots from elaeis guineensis empty fruit bunches for solar photocatalysis towards organic dyes
topic S Agriculture (General)
SB Plant culture
url http://eprints.utar.edu.my/6230/
http://eprints.utar.edu.my/6230/1/Thesis_Umairah_Abd_Rani.pdf