Green Synthesis of Bimetallic ZnO-CuO Nanocatalyst for the Hydro-dechlorination of 1,2-Dichlorobenzene and 3-Chlorophenol

Abstract

Bimetallic nanoparticles exhibit advantageous catalytic, optical and electrical properties and among the various methods of synthesis of nanoparticles, green synthesis gained great attention due to its simplicity, cost effective, ecofriendly and versatility. In view of this, the present work intended to synthesize the ZnO-CuO bimetallic nanoparticles using aqueous root extract of Suaeda maritima (L.) Dumort. The bimetallic nanoparticles synthesized were observed to be spherical in shape with particle size in the range of 20-45 nm and the particles were distributed with less aggregation. The synthesized nanoparticles have 41% of zinc element and 33% copper with hexagonal phase crystalline structure of zinc oxide and monoclinic copper oxide phase. The synthesized ZnO-CuO bimetallic nanoparticles were used for the hydro-dechlorination of 1,2-dichlorobenzene and 3-chlorophenol. The results indicated that rapid dechlorination was observed during the initial time of study. The percentage dechlorination of 19.37 ± 0.243 and 15.52 ± 0.193% was observed within 5 min of the study for 1,2-dichlorobenzene and 3-chlorophenol, respectively. The high % dechlorination was achieved within 25 min wherein the % dechlorination was observed to be 93.35 ± 0.103 and 89.75 ± 0.091 for 1,2-dichlorobenzene and 3- chlorophenol, respectively. This study reports the cost-effective and eco-friendly method for synthesizing ZnO-CuO bimetallic nanoparticles that can utilize for the dechlorination of various polychlorinated aromatic compounds in natural samples.