Molecular Development of Silver Nanoparticles-loaded Poly Acrylic Acid Hydrogel as a Catalyst for Dye Degradation

In this study, Ag nanoparticles were loaded successfully into poly acrylic acid hydrogel (PAA) as a matrix to prepare PAA-Ag nanocomposite catalyst. The prepared catalyst was characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer (FT‐IR), thermal gravimetric analyzer (TGA), inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer (ICP), and X‐Ray photoelectron spectroscope (XPS). The catalyst with NaBH4 was used to degrade some common pollutant dyes such as methyl orange (MO), rhodamine B (Rh. B) and methylene blue (MB) in water. UV-visible spectrophotometer was applied to determine the initial and final concentration of dyes. Some effective factors on degradation such as the amount of catalyst, the initial concentration of dye, time, and pH were investigated. The results demonstrated that the amount of catalyst equal to 0.02 and 0.03 g with 0.01 g of NaBH4 in 50 ml water are appropriate to completely degrade 50 ppm of MO, Rh. B, and MB, respectively, at pH = 6.5 in less than 15 min.