Behavior of surface coated zirconium silicate-nanopolyaniline with nano zerovalent copper (ZrSiO4@NPANI@nZVCu) toward catalytic reduction of nitroanilines

• Published in: Materials chemistry and physics 2021-01, Vol.258, p.123890, Article 123890
• Main Authors: Mahmoud, Mohamed E., Amira, Mohamed F., Seleim, Seleim M., Abouelanwar, Magda E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chemical reduction; Contaminants; Copper; Derivatives; Electron transfer; Environmental protection; Functional groups; Isokinetic relationship; Langmuir-hinshelwood mechanism; Mathematical analysis; Nanocatalysis; Nitroanilines; Parameters; Pollutants; Toxicity; Zirconium silicate
• ISSN: 0254-0584; 1879-3312
• DOI: 10.1016/j.matchemphys.2020.123890

Nitroanilines (NAs) are listed as hazard contaminants in water and aquatic life according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) due to their toxicity and explosive nature. Therefore, removal of these pollutants from water or conversion of their structures to less toxic and less explosive are generally aimed by different approaches and techniques. The most important strategy to accomplish this target is related to the catalytic reduction of nitro into amino functional group. Therefore, a new nanocatalyst was designed and assembled in this work by microwave surface coating of zirconium silicate-nanopolyaniline with nano zerovalent copper to produce ZrSiO4@NPANI@nZVCu nanocatalyst. The assembled nanocatalyst was characterized and confirmed by different instrumentations and surface techniques including FT-IR, TGA, TEM, XRD and surface area determination. Three nitro derivatives, viz 2-nitroaniline (2NA), 3-nitroaniline (3NA) and 4-nitroaniline (4NA) were selected to investigate and evaluate their reduction behaviors into amino derivatives by the reductive action of ZrSiO4@NPANI@nZVCu nanocatalyst. The collected results from this study confirmed that nZVCu was the active center in ZrSiO4@NPANI@nZVCu nanocatalyst and responsible for the electron transfer process between NaBH4 to nitroanilines. Catalytic reactions of nitroanilines (NAs) were established with rate constant k = 0.188, 0.246 and 0.114 min−1 for 2NA, 3NA and 4NA, respectively at 298K in presence of excess concentration of NaBH4 to achieve pseudo-first order conditions. In addition, the effect of reaction temperature on the catalytic reduction of NAs by ZrSiO4@NPANI@nZVCu nanocatalyst was also investigated to calculate the thermodynamic parameters and set up the isokinetic relationship and mechanism. Other important experimental controlling parameter on the catalytic reduction processes of NAs by ZrSiO4@NNPANI@nZVCu nanocatalyst such as pH of reaction was also studied and evaluated in this work. [Display omitted] •A novel ZrSiO4@NPANI@nZVCu nanocatalyst was designed and assembled.•The particle size (30–58) nm and surface area (23.0–24.65 m2/g) were characterized.•Evaluation of catalytic reduction for three nitro anilines (2NA, 3NA and 4NA).•NZVCu was confirmed as the active center in catalytic reduction process.•Rate constant k = 0.188 (2NA), 0.246 (3NA) and 0.114 (4NA) min−1 at 298K.