Synthesis and Application of Silver and Cobalt Nanoparticles Immobilized on Ionic Liquid-Functionalized Halloysite Nanotubes in the Reduction of 4-Nitrophenol in Aqueous Solution

Abstract

4-nitrophenol (4-NP) is a highly toxic pollutant for aquatic ecosystem and human life. Therefore, the catalytic reduction of 4-NP into useful 4-aminophenol (4-AP) is of interest. In this regard, two heterogeneous nanocatalysts, including Ag@HNTs-ILs and Co@HNTs-ILs were prepared by grafting imidazolium-based ionic liquids (ILs) onto the halloysite nanotubes (HNTs), followed by immobilization of Ag and Co nanoparticles (NPs), and characterized by means of FT-IR, SEM, EDX, TEM and XRD. The catalytic activity of the prepared nanocatalysts was evaluated for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol (4-AP) under environmentally friendly condition. A set of time, temperature, nanocatalyst amount and NaBH4/4-NP molar ratios was screened. The reusability experiments demonstrated that Ag@HNTs-ILs and Co@HNTs-ILs were highly reusable, up to five reduction cycles without considerable changes in the reaction time. As the synthesized hybrid nanocatalysts could be re-collected and reused for various catalytic runs without any significant loss in their catalytic activity, they could be considered very promising nanomaterials from sustainability point of view.