Bimetallic Ag-Cu nanoparticles anchored on polypropylene (PP) nonwoven fabrics: Superb catalytic efficiency and stability in 4-nitrophenol reduction

Abstract Herein, a convenient and environment-friendly grafting and reduction strategy was used to anchor bimetallic Ag-Cu nanoparticles on polypropylene (PP) fabrics. The as-prepared samples were characterized by various techniques including FE-SEM, XRD, EDX, XPS and FT-IR. The as-prepared sample exhibits excellent activity on the catalytic reduction of highly concentrated 4-NP, and the synergistic effect between Ag and Cu nanoparticles was proved. The entire catalytic reduction was generally considered to obey pseudo-order kinetics, affording high conversion even after 15 successive recycles. These results showed that the PP based composite with Ag-Cu nanoparticles effectively provided superb catalytic efficiency and stability in 4-nitrophenol reduction, and the PP based composites were suitable in practical applications for the treatment of diverse waste water.