Synthesis of Ag nanoparticles decoration on magnetic carbonized polydopamine nanospheres for effective catalytic reduction of Cr(VI)

Changlun Chen; Kairuo Zhu; Ke Chen; Ahmed Alsaedi; Tasawar Hayat

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2018.04.094

Synthesis of Ag nanoparticles decoration on magnetic carbonized polydopamine nanospheres for effective catalytic reduction of Cr(VI)

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2018 Sep 15:526:1-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2018.04.094. Epub 2018 Apr 25.

Authors

Changlun Chen¹, Kairuo Zhu², Ke Chen³, Ahmed Alsaedi⁴, Tasawar Hayat⁵

Affiliations

¹ CAS Key Laboratory of Photovoltaic and Energy Conservation Materials, Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 1126, Hefei 230031, PR China; Institute of Physical Science and Information Technology, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, PR China; NAAM Research Group, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: clchen@ipp.ac.cn.
² CAS Key Laboratory of Photovoltaic and Energy Conservation Materials, Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 1126, Hefei 230031, PR China; Institute of Physical Science and Information Technology, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, PR China.
³ CAS Key Laboratory of Photovoltaic and Energy Conservation Materials, Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 1126, Hefei 230031, PR China.
⁴ NAAM Research Group, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ NAAM Research Group, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia; Department of Mathematics, Quaid-I-Azam University, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan.

PMID: 29709667
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2018.04.094

Abstract

More discrete and active Ag nanoparticles (Ag NPs) were fabricated by decorating them on the surface of magnetic nanoparticles encapsulated in carbonized polydopamine nanospheres (M/C-PDA/Ag) via in-situ solid-state decomposition process. The morphology, structure, surface compositions and textural properties of the M/C-PDA and M/C-PDA/Ag catalyst were characterized. The results revealed a dispersion of Ag NPs with average particle size of less than 50 nm on C-PDA nanospheres uniformly embedded with Fe₃C NPs of only 3-5 nm in size. With the synergistic effect of Ag NPs, nitrogen doping, and hierarchical mesopores, M/C-PDA/Ag displayed a superior catalytic capability for catalytic reduction of toxic Cr(VI) to less-toxic Cr(III) by formic acid as a reductant. Moreover, M/C-PDA/Ag maintained good physicochemical structure and stable activity even after several cycles of reactions. According to the results, the simple synthetic strategy, good stability, highly catalytic activity, and easy magnetic separation property of M/C-PDA/Ag hybrid make it serve as a promising environmentally friendly catalyst for the elimination of Cr(VI).

Keywords: Ag NPs; Catalysis; Cr(VI); Fe(3)C NPs; Reduction.