A Benign Approach for Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles and Their Application in Treatment of Organic Pollutant

Abstract

A facile fabrication of silver nanoparticles was carried out using tannic acid in the presence of sodium hydroxide in aqueous medium. This method of preparation is completely a green approach; free from harsh chemicals, only environmental benign solvents and nontoxic chemicals were utilized. The fabricated particles were characterized using various techniques including TEM, SAED, UV–visible spectroscopy, IR, XRD, and TGA. The estimated size of the prepared particles is of the range 7–15 nm with spherical shape exhibiting a prominent surface plasmon resonance band at 412.7 nm. The ensuing nanoscaled silver particles play a significant role in treatment of organic pollutants such as chlorpyrifos and methylene blue. Degradation of chlorpyrifos in the presence of silver nanoparticles was monitored successfully. Moreover, role of silver nanoparticles as catalyst in the degradation of methylene blue in the presence of sodium borohydride has been demonstrated in this work. The degradation reaction followed first-order kinetic, and the catalysis rate constant is 0.149 min−1 which is about 75-fold times than that of uncatalyzed reaction.