folder on my ipad is showing empty but has one item

This is entirely normal. What you see is a “quirk” of the iOS/iPadOS Operating System.

For an empty folder, the “one item” is the folder itself; each added sub-folder will increase the item count by one. Sometimes an App folder will include hidden files. While not visible, the hidden file(s) will be included in the item count.

Use the hidden-file toggle Command-Shift-Period, and see if anything shows up.

You’ll probably find a .DS_Store file, as a guess. Finder is fond of using that file.