Potential application of in-situ synthesized cobalt nanoparticles on chitosan-coated cotton cloth substrate as catalyst for the reduction of pollutants

Abstract

In current study, nanostructured cobalt particles were supported over chitosan coated cotton cloth (Co/CH-CC) and used for the reduction of congo red (CR) dye which is carcinogenic in nature and a toxic nitroaromatic 2-nitrophenol (2-NP). Cobalt nanoparticles were in-situ synthesized after the metal ions loading by a CH-CC and followed by reduction with sodium borohydride (NaBH 4) which is a strong reducing agent. The formation of cobalt nanoparticles has been assessed by SEM and EDX. The size of cobalt nanoparticles was found to be 90 ± 22 nm. The Crystallinity of cotton cloth (CC), chitosan coated cotton cloth (CH-CC) and Co/CH-CC confirmed by using XRD technique. The reductions of the CR and 2-NP were analysed using sodium borohydride as reducing agent and Co/CH-CC as a catalyst. The results showed that cobalt nanoparticles are excellent catalyst for reduction of hazardous dyes as ∼96% of CR dye was degraded in 21 min, which was confirmed by analysing its absorption peak using UV–Vis spectrophotometer. The reduction reactions of CR dye and 2-NP followed the first order kinetics, and the rate constants were found to be 0.1099 min−1 and 01437 min−1, respectively. The results in this study indicate a good catalytic potential of the Co/CH-CC for other similar reactions.