Polymer supported metallic nanoparticles as a solid catalyst for the removal of organic pollutants

Nowadays, considerable attention has been gained for metal-based nanocatalysts due to their high catalytic activity. Herein, copper-cotton cellulose (Cu-CC) and metal nanoparticles supported on Cu-CC (MNPs@Cu-CC) were prepared. Zero-valent nanoparticles (NPs) of silver (Ag), and iron (Fe) were grown on Cu-CC and utilized as catalyst in few important organic reduction reactions. The prepared Cu-CC, Fe@Cu-CC and Ag@Cu-CC catalysts were utilized in catalytic reduction of nitrophenols and dyes for their evaluation. Among all the tested catalysts, Cu-CC efficiently reduced 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) and methyl orange dye (MO). The reduction rate constants of 4-NP and MO were 9.94 × 10⁻³ and 1.12 × 10⁻² s^–1, respectively. Further the catalytic activity of the more efficient Cu-CC was optimized by varying its amount, nitophenols and dyes, and NaBH₄ concentrations. The stability, re-usability and loss in catalytic activity of the NPs were analyzed by the recyclability, in which the Cu-CC was utilized several times for the reduction of 4-NP and MO which suggest that the designed catalyst can be easily prepared, recovered simply by discarding the dye after completion of reaction, recyclable and have good catalytic activity.