Sodium alginate-supported AgSr nanoparticles for catalytic degradation of malachite green and methyl orange in aqueous medium

Abstract

In the last few years, metal nanoparticles (NPs) have become one of the major components in the field of nanotechnology. NPs with fascinating and tunable properties (size and shape) have provided solutions for many problems including water pollution which has now become alarming in the current era. Herein, natural polymer-supported AgSr bimetallic NPs have been synthesized. For this purpose, sodium alginate (Na-Alg) was used as a stabilizer along with sodium borohydride (NaBH4) as a reducing agent. The synthesized Na-Alg-supported AgSr NPs were characterized employing UV–Vis, FTIR, SEM, and XRD techniques. The spectrophotometric analysis confirmed the formation and SEM and XRD confirmed the size of NPs up to 24.18 and 12.95 nm, respectively. These NPs were tested for catalytic degradation potential against malachite green (MG) and methyl orange (MO) dyes in the aqueous medium. The catalytic activity of NPs was evaluated in terms of kinetics and percent removal of the dyes. The results revealed that the MO dye was degraded in 21 min with a removal efficiency of 86.45% and MG dye in 24 min with 91.74%. Catalytic degradation of MO and MG dyes was also monitored in the absence of AgSr NPs which showed no catalytic degradation of dyes even after half an hour. The study has confirmed that biopolymer-supported NPs can be synthesized with suitable morphology for catalytic applications and these NPs can be further used for the removal of dyes from aqueous medium.