| Summary: | The present study describes the use of a leaf extract from <i>Ficus carica</i> as a source of natural antioxidants for the surface alteration of bulk titanium dioxide (TiO<sub>2</sub>) in two steps. First, the hydro-thermal treatment of the bulk TiO<sub>2</sub> material was carried out and followed by thermal annealing at 300 °C for 3 h in air. The role of the leaf extract of <i>Ficus carica</i> on the performance of the bulk TiO<sub>2</sub> material for the removal of methylene blue (MB) was also studied. Various analytical techniques such as powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) were used to explore the crystalline structure, morphology, and composition. The bulk TiO<sub>2</sub> material after the leaf-extract treatment exhibited mixed anatase and rutile phases, a flower-like morphology, and Ti, O, and C were its main elements. The average crystallite size was also calculated, and the obtained values for the bulk TiO<sub>2</sub> material, 18.11 nm, and the treated bulk TiO<sub>2</sub> material with various amounts, 5, 10, and 15 mL, of leaf extract were 16.4, 13.16, and 10.29 nm respectively. Moreover, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy validated the typical metal–oxygen bonds and strengthened the XRD results. The bulk TiO<sub>2</sub> material chemically treated with <i>Ficus carica</i> has shown outstanding activity towards the degradation of MB under sunlight. The 15 mL of <i>Ficus carica</i> extract significantly enhanced the photocatalytic activity of the bulk TiO<sub>2</sub> material towards the degradation of MB. The dye degradation efficiency was found to be 98.8%, which was experimentally proven by the Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopoyy (FTIR) analysis. The obtained performance of the bulk TiO<sub>2</sub> material with <i>Ficus carica</i> revealed excellent surface modifying properties for poorly-performing photocatalysts towards the degradation of synthetic dyes when used in their pristine form. The presented approach suggests that <i>Ficus carica</i> could be of great interest for tuning the surface properties of materials, either in the form of nano-size or bulk-phase in a particular application.
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