The present study describes the synthesis of highly active and ordered structures of nickel nanocatalysts by a facile, green, and economically viable approach. The study reveals efficient catalytic activity for the degradation of a number of toxic organic dyes, such as eosin-B (EB), rose bengal (RB), eriochrome black-T (ECBT), and methylene blue (MB). The stable ordered nickel nanostructure (Ni NSs) arrays were prepared via a modified hydrazine reduction route with unique and controlled morphologies in a lyotropic liquid crystalline medium using a nonionic surfactant (Triton X-100). Characterization and optimization studies for the fabricated Ni NSs involving their surface binding interactions, size, and morphologies were carried out using UV-Vis spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). 1. Introduction The widespread interest in the synthesis of metal nanomaterials has largely been driven by their potential applications in various fields ranging from sensors and optical switches to catalysis [1]. Similarly, the control over pollution, especially contamination of the aquatic environment due to industrial effluents, has become an increasingly important and complex issue of present day research concern. The existence of industrially important dyes in drinking water may pose a serious threat to human health. Since there are both environmental and health concerns in this particular issue, there is a need to introduce efficient and inexpensive protocols for the treatment of waters and effluents [2]. A variety of methodologies have been developed for investigation of environmental contaminants which exploit the reactivity of target molecules with suitable reagents alone or in the presence of catalysts, ultimately resulting in degradation, removal, or safe disposal of environmental and aquatic pollutants [3, 4]. Some of the water treatment methods include, adsorption method [5, 6], biological discoloration [7], and advanced oxidation processes such as the photo-fenton reaction [8], photo-catalytic degradation by UV irradiation [9], visible light [10], and microwave discharge lamps [11, 12] are well regarded for the removal or degradation of dyes from wastewaters. However, each of these technologies exhibits their own limitations. For example, dyes cannot always be completely eliminated by biological methods because most dyes are recalcitrant molecules; the pollutants are not degraded by adsorption but are just transferred from one phase to the other and advanced oxidation
References
[1]
M. A. Breimer, G. Yevgeny, S. Sy, and O. A. Sadik, “Incorporation of metal nanoparticles in photopolymerized organic conducting polymers: a mechanistic insight,” Nano Letters, vol. 1, no. 6, pp. 305–308, 2001.
[2]
H. He, S. Yang, K. Yu, Y. Ju, C. Sun, and L. Wang, “Microwave induced catalytic degradation of crystal violet in nano-nickel dioxide suspensions,” Journal of Hazardous Materials, vol. 173, no. 1–3, pp. 393–400, 2010.
[3]
R. Andreozzi, V. Caprio, A. Insola, and R. Marotta, “Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOP) for water purification and recovery,” Catalysis Today, vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 51–59, 1999.
[4]
J. M. Hermann, “Heterogeneous photocatalysis: fundamentals and applications to the removal of various types of aqueous pollutants,” Catalysis Today, vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 115–129, 1999.
[5]
M. H. Liao, K. Y. Wu, and D. H. Chen, “Fast adsorption of crystal violet on polyacrylic acid-bound magnetic nanoparticles,” Separation Science and Technology, vol. 39, no. 7, pp. 1563–1575, 2005.
[6]
O. Gezici, M. Kü？ükosmano？lu, and A. Ayar, “The adsorption behavior of crystal violet in functionalized sporopollenin-mediated column arrangements,” Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, vol. 304, no. 2, pp. 307–316, 2006.
[7]
J. J. Jones and J. O. Falkinham III, “Decolorization of malachite green and crystal violet by waterborne pathogenic mycobacteria,” Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, vol. 47, no. 7, pp. 2323–2326, 2003.
[8]
F. A. Alshamsi, A. S. Albadwawi, M. M. Alnuaimi, M. A. Rauf, and S. S. Ashraf, “Comparative efficiencies of the degradation of Crystal Violet using UV/hydrogen peroxide and Fenton's reagent,” Dyes and Pigments, vol. 74, no. 2, pp. 283–287, 2007.
[9]
M. Saquib and M. Muneer, “TiO2-mediated photocatalytic degradation of a triphenylmethane dye (gentian violet), in aqueous suspensions,” Dyes and Pigments, vol. 56, no. 1, pp. 37–49, 2003.
[10]
J. Hong, C. Sun, S.-G. Yang, and Y.-Z. Liu, “Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue in TiO2 aqueous suspensions using microwave powered electrodeless discharge lamps,” Journal of Hazardous Materials, vol. 133, no. 1–3, pp. 162–166, 2006.
[11]
Z. He, C. Sun, S. Yang, Y. Ding, H. He, and Z. Wang, “Photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B by Bi2WO6 with electron accepting agent under microwave irradiation: mechanism and pathway,” Journal of Hazardous Materials, vol. 162, no. 2-3, pp. 1477–1486, 2009.
[12]
Y. M. Ju, S. G. Yang, Y. C. Ding, C. Sun, A. Q. Zhang, and L. H. Wang, “Microwave-assisted rapid photocatalytic degradation of malachite green in TiO2 suspensions: mechanism and pathways,” Journal of Physical Chemistry A, vol. 11, no. 44, pp. 11172–11177, 2008.
[13]
C. C. Chen, H. J. Liao, C. Y. Cheng, C. Y. Yen, and Y. C. Chung, “Biodegradation of crystal violet by Pseudomonas putida,” Biotechnology Letters, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 391–396, 2007.
[14]
K. Banerjee, P. N. Cheremisinoff, and S. L. Cheng, “Sorption of organic contaminants by fly ash in a single solute system,” Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 29, no. 9, pp. 2243–2251, 1995.
[15]
R. Comparelli, E. Fanizza, M. L. Curri, P. D. Cozzoli, G. Mascolo, and A. Agostiano, “UV-induced photocatalytic degradation of azo dyes by organic-capped ZnO nanocrystals immobilized onto substrates,” Applied Catalysis B, vol. 60, no. 1-2, pp. 1–11, 2005.
[16]
M. Vaez, A. Z. Moghaddam, N. M. Mahmoodi, and S. Alijani, “Decolorization and degradation of acid dye with immobilized titania nanoparticles,” Process Safety and Environmental Protection, vol. 90, no. 1, pp. 56–64, 2012.
[17]
P. K. Rastogi, V. Ganesan, and S. Krishnamoorthi, “Microwave assisted polymer stabilized synthesis of silver nanoparticles and its application in the degradation of environmental pollutants,” Materials Science and Engineering B, vol. 77, no. 6, pp. 456–461, 2012.
[18]
B. Sahoo, S. K. Sahu, S. Nayak, D. Dhara, and P. Pramanik, “Fabrication of magnetic mesoporous manganese ferrite nanocomposites as efficient catalyst for degradation of dye pollutants,” Catalysis Science & Technology, vol. 2, no. 7, pp. 1367–1374, 2012.
[19]
Z. A. Tagar, Sirajuddin, N. Memon et al., “Facile synthesis, characterization and catalytic function of gelatin stabilized gold nanoparticles,” Pakistan Journal of Analytical and Environmental Chemistry, vol. 13, no. 1, p. 70, 2012.
[20]
N. H. Kalwar, Sirajuddin, K. R. Hallam et al., “Fabrication of small l-threonine capped nickel nanoparticles and their catalytic application,” Applied Catalysis A, vol. 453, pp. 54–59, 2013.
[21]
N. H. Kalwar, Sirajuddin, S. T. H. Sherazi et al., “Synthesis of l-methionine stabilized nickel nanowires and their application for catalytic oxidative transfer hydrogenation of isopropanol,” Applied Catalysis A, vol. 400, no. 1-2, pp. 215–220, 2011.
[22]
K. Nouneh, M. Oyama, R. Diaz, M. Abd-Lefdil, I. V. Kityk, and M. Bousmina, “Nanoscale synthesis and optical features of metallic nickel nanoparticles by wet chemical approaches,” Journal of Alloys and Compounds, vol. 509, no. 19, pp. 5882–5886, 2011.
[23]
H. Amekura, Y. Takeda, and N. Kishimoto, “Criteria for surface plasmon resonance energy of metal nanoparticles in silica glass,” Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B, vol. 222, no. 1-2, pp. 96–104, 2004.
[24]
D. Liu, S. Ren, H. Wu, Q. Zhang, and L. Wen J, “Morphology control in synthesis of nickel nanoparticles in the presence of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVPK30),” Journal of Materials Science, vol. 43, no. 6, pp. 1974–1978, 2008.
[25]
P. S. Denkova, L. van Lokeren, I. Verbruggen, and R. Willem, “Self-aggregation and supramolecular structure investigations of triton X-100 and SDP2S by NOESY and diffusion ordered NMR spectroscopy,” Journal of Physical Chemistry B, vol. 112, no. 35, pp. 10935–10941, 2008.
[26]
L. Qi, “Colloidal chemical approaches to inorganic micro- and nanostructures with controlled morphologies and patterns,” Coordination Chemistry Reviews, vol. 254, no. 9-10, pp. 1054–1071, 2010.
[27]
R. Chen, Q. Wang, Y. Du, W. Xing, and N. Xu, “Effect of initial solution apparent pH on nano-sized nickel catalysts in p-nitrophenol hydrogenation,” Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 145, no. 3, pp. 371–376, 2009.
[28]
F. Tao, M. Guan, Y. Zhou, L. Zhang, Z. Xu, and J. Chen, “Fabrication of nickel hydroxide microtubes with micro- and nano-scale composite structure and improving electrochemical performance,” Crystal Growth and Design, vol. 8, no. 7, pp. 2157–2162, 2008.
[29]
Y. Du, H. Chen, R. Chen, and N. Xu, “Synthesis of p-aminophenol from p-nitrophenol over nano-sized nickel catalysts,” Applied Catalysis A, vol. 277, no. 1-2, pp. 259–264, 2004.
[30]
L. Bai, F. Yuan, and Q. Tang, “Synthesis of nickel nanoparticles with uniform size via a modified hydrazine reduction route,” Materials Letters, vol. 62, no. 15, pp. 2267–2270, 2008.
[31]
B. Zhang, X. Ye, W. Dai, W. Hou, and Y. Xie, “Biomolecule-assisted synthesis and electrochemical hydrogen storage of porous spongelike Ni3S2 nanostructures grown directly on nickel foils,” Chemistry, vol. 12, no. 8, pp. 2337–2342, 2006.
[32]
S. Nath, S. Praharaj, S. Panigrahi, S. Basu, and T. Pal, “Photochemical evolution of palladium nanoparticles in Triton X-100 and its application as catalyst for degradation of acridine orange,” Current Science, vol. 92, no. 6, pp. 786–790, 2007.
[33]
M. C. Rosu, R. C. Suciu, I. Kasco, S. V. Dreve, E. Indrea, and T. D. Silipas, “A spectroscopic study of dyes decomposition by irradiated nanocrystalline TiO2,” Journal of Physics: Conference Series, vol. 182, no. 1, Article ID 012078, 2009.
[34]
Y. Zhang and T. Ren, “Silica supported ruthenium oxide nanoparticulates as efficient catalysts for water oxidation,” Chemical Communications, vol. 48, no. 89, pp. 11005–11007, 2012.
