Modification of cellulose filter paper with bimetal nanoparticles for catalytic reduction of nitroaromatics in water

In this research work, we present a synthesis of silver and cobalt bimetal nanoparticles stabilized by a carboxymethyl cellulose biopolymer (CMC-AgCo) and its coating on a cellulose filter paper (CFP) to prepare the dip-catalyst. All the prepared samples were subjected to characterization by scanning electron microscopy for surface morphology, EDX, XRD and thermogravimetric analysis. The catalytic properties of the CFP/CMC-AgCo as dip-catalysts were evaluated in the reduction of organic nitroaromatic pollutants of 2,6-dinitrophenol to 2,6-diaminophenol as well as the 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol. It was found that the reduction reaction advanced with the pseudo-first-order kinetics. The CFP/CMC-AgCo catalyzed the 2,6-diaminophenol and 4-nitrophenol with a reaction rate constant of 0.1244 and 0.177 min− 1, respectively. The separation of the CFP/CMC-AgCo was easy as it required a simple pulling of the strip from the reaction medium. Importantly, the catalytic reaction rates and conversion percentages of the two nitroaromatics were well-maintained for multiple times during recycling experiments.