Synthesis and characterization of metal nanoparticles templated chitosan-SiO2 catalyst for the reduction of nitrophenols and dyes.

Different metal nanoparticles (MNPs) templated on chitosan-silica (CH-SiO2) nanocomposite fiber were prepared via simple and fast method of the metal ions uptake by fiber and their subseqent reduction using strong reducing agent. The performance difference of CH-SiO2 templated with Cu, Co, Ag and Ni nanoparticles for both reduction of 4-nitroaniline (4-NA) and decolorization of congo red (CR) was investigated. The Cu nanoparticles loaded CH-SiO2 (Cu/CH-SiO2), showed high catalytic efficiencies in the reduction of 4-NA and CR, as compared to other loaded MNP fibers. The apparent rate constants of 6.17 × 10-3 s-1 and 1.68 × 10-2 s-1 and turnover frequencies (TOF) of 4.693 h-1 and 3.965 h-1 were observed for the reduction of 4-NA and CR, respectively. In addition, the catalytic activity of Cu/CH-SiO2 catalyst was also examined and found efficient in the reduction of nitrophenols (2-NP, 3-NP and 4-NP), and other dyes. Thus, Cu/CH-SiO2 with excellent catalytic activity can also be employed for other applications.