The morphology and size distribution of the MgO nanoparticles
was investigated by FE-SEM (Fig. 1a). The images showed the high
porosity with uniform distribution of synthesized MgO nanoparticles
and particle size ranging from 15-25 nm (Fig. 1b). The
nano size of MgO particles verifies its desired reactivity and UVA
adsorption. Furthermore, Fig. 1c shows the results of EDX analysis
for photocatalyst, which is composed of 42.8% magnesium and
57.2% oxygen. Except for Mg and O, no other peak for any other
element was found in the spectrum, confirming the purity of synthesized
MgO nanoparticles. According to the result of BET analysis,
the specific surface area of MgO nanoparticles was found to be
37.03 m2/g.
Fig. 2 shows the XRD pattern of MgO photocatalyst. The average
crystalline size of the product was calculated using Scherer's
equation (Eq (2)) and it was found to be 12.6 nm (Samantilleke
et al., 2011). The average size of the MgO nanoparticles was in
good agreement with those observed from FE-SEM images