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In situ fabrication of Ag nanoparticles/attapulgite nanocomposites: green synthesis and catalytic application

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Abstract

A facile solvents-free reaction method was employed to in situ prepare Ag nanoparticles/attapulgite (Ag-NPs/APT) nanocomposites and used for the catalytic reducing decoloration of Congo red (CR) dye. The Ag-NPs with different sizes and loading amounts were in situ formed by the thermal decomposition of silver acetate with no need of any chemical solvent, reductant, stabilizer, or electric current; and the formed Ag-NPs were uniformly immobilized on APT as shown by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy analyses. The nanocomposites show excellent catalytic activity to catalytic reducing CR dye in the presence of NaBH4, and the CR solution (20 mg/L) can be rapidly decolored within 2 min at the lower dosage of nanocomposite (0.3 g/L). The electron transfer from BH4 − to the electron acceptor CR, mediated by Ag-NPs, represents the main reduction mechanism. The nanocomposite still shows better catalytic activity after ten cycles, hence it can be used as a recycle material for catalytic applications.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Science and Technology Support Project of Jiangsu Provincial Sci. & Tech. Department (No. BE2012113) and “863” Project of the Ministry of Science and Technology, P. R. China (No. 2013AA031403) for the financial support of this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center of Eco-material and Green Chemistry, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730030, People’s Republic of China

    Wenbo Wang, Yuru Kang & Aiqin Wang

  2. R&D Center of Xuyi Attapulgite Applied Technology, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, People’s Republic of China

    Wenbo Wang, Yuru Kang & Aiqin Wang

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  1. Wenbo Wang
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  2. Yuru Kang
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  3. Aiqin Wang
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Correspondence to Aiqin Wang.

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Wang, W., Kang, Y. & Wang, A. In situ fabrication of Ag nanoparticles/attapulgite nanocomposites: green synthesis and catalytic application. J Nanopart Res 16, 2281 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-014-2281-x

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