Facile synthesis of Ag3PO4/PPy/PANI ternary composites for efficient catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol and 2-nitroaniline

Abstract In this study, a series of Ag3PO4/PPy/PANI ternary composite catalysts were fabricated by adjusting the mixed solution of pyrrole and aniline with different volume ratios of 4:1, 3:2, 1:1, 2:3, and 1:4, and combining with the in-situ synthesis method. The synthesized Ag3PO4/PPy/PANI nanoparticles were examined by XRD, SEM, TEM and EDX, Raman spectroscopy. When the ratio of pyrrole and aniline is 1:1, the polymerized PPy/PANI acted as the supporting matrix to effectively immobilize and prevent the aggregation of Ag3PO4 nanoparticles. The catalytic performances of the Ag3PO4/PPy/PANI composites were confirmed for reduction of 2-nitroaniline (2-NA) and 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) in the presence of NaBH4 at room temperature by UV–vis spectroscopy. Results showed that the catalytic reduction effect of the Ag3PO4/PPy/PANI (1:1) on 2-NA is obviously better than that on 4-NP, which followed the pseudo-first-order kinetic, and the corresponding rate constants are 0.0053 min−1 and 0.022 min−1, respectively, indicating that it has potential application in wastewater treatment in industries.