A green and facile synthesis of silver nanoparticles and its application in the reduction and photodegradation of organic compounds

Abstract

A simple, environment friendly, and microwave assisted green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) depicting the dual functional properties of lithium dodecyl sulphate as a co-reducing and stabilizing agent has been presented. This is a rapid (6 min) and economic protocol that avoids the use of additional external capping agents, external reducing agents, solvents and templates. The method results in rapid formation of spherical Ag NPs with average sizes in the range of ~7-15 nm. The possible mechanism for the formation of Ag NPs has also been presented. The synthesised Ag NPs have been characterised by various techniques, such as UV vis spectroscopy, Transmission electron spectroscopy and X-RD analysis. The prepared Ag NPs exhibit good catalytic activities towards the reduction of 4-nitro phenol in aqueous as well as in micellar media and show excellent photocatalytic activities for the removal of methyl violet 6B dye from aqueous phase. Approximately, 98.3% of methyl violet 6B dye is degradation with synthesized Ag NPs during the photocatalytic degradation process.