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Metal-dependent nano-catalysis in reduction of aromatic pollutants

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Abstract

Nanostructures have great potential in catalysis and their compositions may cause some interferences in the reactivity. Therefore, the present study focuses on comparison between three metallic nanoparticle-based Ag, Au, and Pd as nano-catalyst in reduction of aromatic pollutants. To neglect any interpenetration in their catalytic reactivity, the metallic nanoparticles were prepared via a consistent and reproducible one-step method with alkali-activated dextran. Interestingly, small sized/spherical AgNPs, AuNPs, and PdNPs were successively prepared with particle size of 3.4, 8.3, and 17.1 nm, respectively. The catalytic performance of the synthesized NPs was estimated for the reduction of p-nitroaniline and methyl red dye as different aromatic pollutants. Regardless of the particle size, there was a strong relation between catalytic action and the type of metal which followed the order of PdNP > AuNPs > AgNPs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pretreatment and Finishing of Cellulosic based Textiles, Textile Industries Research Division, National Research Centre, Scopus affiliation ID 60014618, 33 El Buhouth St., Dokki, Giza, 12622, Egypt

    Hossam E. Emam

  2. Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Helwan University, Ain-Helwan, Cairo, 11795, Egypt

    Mary M. Mikhail, Samya El-Sherbiny & Hanan B. Ahmed

  3. Food Engineering and Packaging Department, Agricultural Research Center, 9 Cairo University St, Giza, Egypt

    Khaled S. Nagy

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  1. Hossam E. Emam
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  2. Mary M. Mikhail
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  3. Samya El-Sherbiny
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  4. Khaled S. Nagy
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  5. Hanan B. Ahmed
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Correspondence to Hossam E. Emam.

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Highlights

• AgNPs, AuNPs, and PdNPs were synthesized by one-step method using activated dextran.

• Small-sized AgNPs, AuNPs, and PdNPs were obtained with size of 3.4, 8.3, and 17.1 nm, respectively.

• There was a strong relation between catalytic action and type of NPs.

• The catalytic reactivity was followed the order of PdNP > AuNPs > AgNPs.

• The t1/2 for reduction of the aromatic pollutants was only 0.34–0.49 in case of using PdNPs.

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Emam, H.E., Mikhail, M.M., El-Sherbiny, S. et al. Metal-dependent nano-catalysis in reduction of aromatic pollutants. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 6459–6475 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-07315-z

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