Vol 10, Issue 3, 2017 Online - 2455-3891 Print - 0974-2441 GREEN SYNTHESIS OF SUPERPARAMAGNETIC IRON OXIDE NANOPARTICLE FROM FICUS CARICA FRUIT EXTRACT, CHARACTERIZATION STUDIES AND ITS APPLICATION ON DYE DEGRADATION STUDIES THARUNYA P 1 , SUBHA V 1 , KIRUBANANDAN S 1 *, SANDHAYA S 2 , RENGANATHAN S 1 Centre for Biotechnology, Anna University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. 2 Department of Biotechnology, VIT University, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India. Email: skirubanandan80@gmail.com Received: 05 October 2016, Revised and Accepted: 22 December 2016 ABSTRACT Objective: The synthesis of nanoparticles (NPs) has become a matter of great interest in recent times due to their various advantageous properties and applications in a variety of fields. Metal NPs are being increasingly used in many sectors, and there is growing interest in the biological and environmental safety of their production. Methods: In this study, iron oxide NPs (Fe 3 O 4 -NPs) were synthesized from fruits of Ficus carica using a rapid, single step and completely green biosynthetic method by reduction of ferrous sulfate solution with F. carica ethanolic extract. The prepared Fe 3 O 4 -NPs were investigated by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. Results: The report emphasizes the effect of superparamagnetic Fe 3 O 4 -NPs on the degradation rate of hazardous dyes acid blue. Conclusion: To conclude, Fe 3 O 4 -NPs were prepared from fruits of F. carica using a rapid, single step and completely green biosynthetic method by reduction of ferrous sulfate solution with F. carica ethanolic extract. Keywords: Ficus carica, Ethanolic extract, Reduction, Ferrous sulfate, Superparamagnetic iron oxide nano particles, Dye degradation. INTRODUCTION Nanotechnology is a multidisciplinary branch of science that encompasses numerous fields of science and technology, including biomedicine, pharmaceutics, environmental science, and others [1]. The use of nanoparticle [NP] materials offers advantages due to their unique size and physicochemical properties. NPs are clusters of atoms in the size range of 1-100 nm. The control of the monodisperse size of NP is very important because the properties of the nanocrystals strongly depend on the dimension of the NPs. One of the most commonly-used nanoscale materials is magnetic NPs (MNPs): A type of core/shell NP structure that consists of a magnetic core encapsulated in an organic or a polymeric coating. Without a coating, MNPs have hydrophobic surfaces with large surface-to-volume ratios and a propensity to agglomerate [2]. Iron oxide NPs (Fe 3 O 4 -NPs) have attracted intensive research interest because of their important applications in cancer therapy, drug delivery, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and wastewater treatment [3]. Superparamagnetic Fe 3 O 4 -NPs with appropriate surface chemistry can be used for numerous in vivo applications, such as MRI contrast enhancement, tissue repair, and immunoassay, detoxification of biological fluids, hyperthermia, drug delivery, and cell separation [4]. The biosynthesis of Fe 3 O 4 -NPs of different sizes and shapes has been reported using bacteria [5,6] and plant extract [7]. The stability of iron NPs against aggregation can be improved by imparting electrostatic repulsion, applying organic surfactants, or through the use of capping agents [8]. In recent times, sources of dye contamination have expanded from textile industries to food, paper, printing, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical companies [9]. When these dyes are not treated properly, they get accumulated in the environment and become a threat to the ecosystem. These non-treated dyes are potentially carcinogenic, mutagenic and genotoxic, example of such dyes include Acid Red 26, Direct Blue 6, Direct Black 38, etc. Abatement of dyes is a required part of wastewater treatment. Nanotechnology has been extended to the wastewater treatments in the recent years. Due to high surface area silver NPs exhibits an enhanced reactivity [10,11]. Ficus carica is known to contain polyphenols and flavonoids that act both as a reducing agent and a capping agent. Its fruit, root, and leaves are used in traditional medicine to treat various ailments such as gastrointestinal (colic, indigestion, loss of appetite, and diarrhea), respiratory (sore throats, coughs, and bronchial problems), and cardiovascular disorders and as anti-inflammatory and antispasmodic remedy. A wide variety of methods have been reported in for the synthesis of Fe 3 O 4 NPs such as microemulsion technique [12], electrochemical route [13], hydrothermal process [14], sonochemical method [15], and co-precipitation method [16]. Nowadays, synthesis of Fe 3 O 4 -NPs using phytochemicals has attracted much attention due to their simplicity, environmental benignity, and low cost. Dyes are a major class of synthetic organic compounds released by many industries such as paper, plastic, leather, food, cosmetic, textile, and pharmaceutical industries [17,18]. The synthesis and applicability of the Fe 3 O 4 -NPs in the effective removal of acid blue have been reported. The main objective of this study is to test the applicability of Fe 3 O 4 NPs as a catalyst in the removal of acid blue dye. Photocatalytic degradation of acid blue was conducted using Fe 3 O 4 NP as a catalyst in the presence of sunlight. METHODS Sample collection Fig fruits were collected from Anna University, ACT Campus, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. © 2017 The Authors. Published by Innovare Academic Sciences Pvt Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by/4. 0/) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22159/ajpcr.2017.v10i3.15538 Research Article