Synthesis of Ultrafine Silver Nanoparticles on the Surface of Fe3O4@SiO2@KIT-6-NH2 Nanocomposite and Their Application as a Highly Efficient and Reusable Catalyst for Reduction of Nitrofurazone and Aromatic Nitro Compounds Under Mild Conditions

Abstract

Uniform dispersion of ultrafine spherical silver nanoparticles (NPs) was obtained over the surface of Fe3O4@SiO2@KIT-6 core–shell support via functionalization of the mesoporous KIT-6 shell by aminopropyltriethoxysilane, followed by coordination of Ag+ ions and in situ chemical reduction with sodium borohydride. The obtained hybrid material, Fe3O4@SiO2@KIT-6-Ag nanocomposite, was fully characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy, and used as an efficient catalyst for selective reduction of nitroaromatic compounds in aqueous solution at ambient temperature and neutral pH [nine examples, apparent rate constants at 25 °C, k (min−1), 0.112–0.628]. As a non-aromatic example, nitrofurazone which is a cytotoxic antibiotic was also reduced selectively at nitro group without reduction of other functionalities. Fe3O4@SiO2@KIT-6-Ag NPs also showed potential ability to act as catalyst for reduction of nitromethane in aqueous solution which can provide a colorimetric method for detection of nitromethane in solution down to 0.9 × 10−4 mol L−1. Fe3O4@SiO2@KIT-6-Ag nanocomposite was also screened for its antibacterial activity, and satisfactory results were obtained in comparison with drug references including Tetracycline, Chloramphenicol and Cefotaxime as positive controls, on gram negative Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeroginosa. Ease of recycling of the Fe3O4@SiO2@KIT-6-Ag is another benefit of this nanocatalyst. Under the optimized conditions, the recycled catalyst showed 15% loss of efficiency after five successive runs.