Swift catalytic reduction of hazardous pollutants by new generation microgels

• Published in: Soft matter 2022-01, Vol.18 (3), p.535-544
• Main Authors: Singh, Vinai Kumar, Kumar, Krishna, Singh, Nishant, Tiwari, Rudramani, Krishnamoorthi, S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acrylamide; Acrylic acid; Chemical reduction; Composite materials; Crosslinking; Emulsion polymerization; Free radical polymerization; Free radicals; Methylene blue; Microgels; Nanoparticles; Nitrophenol; p-Nitrophenol; Pollutants; Pollution control; Room temperature; Silver; Solution polymerization; Spectroscopy; Styrene
• ISSN: 1744-683X; 1744-6848
• DOI: 10.1039/d1sm01559a

In this manuscript, we report for the first time a new generation microgel synthesis without using any divinyl functionalized cross-linker. A new generation less crosslinked microgel structure has been achieved by optimizing the amount of N -hydroxy methyl acrylamide (NHMA) and using a fixed amount of styrene (St), acrylic acid (AA) and N -vinyl pyrrolidone (NVP) via a free radical emulsion solution polymerization technique. Poly(NHMA) works as a hydrophilic as well as a crosslinking agent. Furthermore, microgels have been upgraded into a composite by incorporation of Ag nanoparticles for catalytic reduction applications. Microgels and their composites have been characterized by EDAX, FT-IR, particle size analyzer, SEM, TEM, TGA, UV-vis spectroscopy and XRD. Methylene blue (MB) dye and p -nitrophenol (PNP) were chosen as model hazardous pollutants for catalytic reduction applications. Microgels efficiently adsorb both pollutants over the surface and microgel_Ag composites dramatically reduced both pollutants in the non-toxic form at room temperature by using smaller doses of NaBH 4 . Swift catalytic reduction of toxic dyes and nitro compounds by new generation microgels.