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International Conference on

Recent Trends in Environmental Sustainability

ESCON22/NMsB/38
PSt-P(NIPMAM) based core@shell hybrid nanoparticles for the degradation of dyes

Khalida Naseem*1
1Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Central Punjab, Lahore,
Pakistan

Correspondence: khalidanaseem1@gmail.com

Abstract
Industrial effluents consist of toxic dyes and nitroaromatic compounds that are harmful to
environment and cause water pollution. Therefore, degradation/removal of such toxic
pollutants from water bodies is need of time Here, Ag-NPs loaded polystyrene-poly(N-
isopropyl methacrylamide-acrylic acid) [Ag-PSt-P(NIPMAM)] core@shell gel particles were
synthesized by emulsion polymerization method. Prepared composite particles were used as
catalyst to increase the rate of degradation of toxic dyes such as Rhodamine B (RhB),
Methylene blue (Mb) and Congo red (CR) in presence of sodium borohydride (NaBH4) used
as reducing agent. Controlled reactions were also performed to confirm the high activity of
catalyst. Pseudo first order kinetic model was adopted to investigate the apparent rate constant
for degradation of toxic dyes. It was concluded that composite nano-catalyst induced the
increase in rate of reduction reactions and made the reaction to complete in feasible time. It
was also observed that reported catalyst even maintained its activity for degradation of multiple
toxic dyes. Results proved that degradation of dyes followed Langmuir Hinshallwood
mechanism. Dye degradation was also done by varying the amount of catalyst, NaBH4 and
toxic dye to optimize the activity of catalyst.

Keywords: Microgels, Nanoparticles, Dyes, Degradation

Figure 1. Diagrammatic representation for the preparation of core@shell hybrid microgel
particles and their use as catalyst for the degradation of toxic dyes.

Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Vehari Campus

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