Methyl Orange Degradation by Using M° Nanoparticles Incorporated in Sol-Gel Matrices.

Liraz Kuztashi, Chemical engineering, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel
Yael Albo, Chemical Engineering, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel
Jaydeep Adhikary, Chemistry, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel

       In recent years, with the growth of population and the development of social economy, the discharged amounts of various pollutants are also growing rapidly. Therefore, more attention is dedicated to water pollution and to the prevention of water deterioration. Consequently, protection of water resources has become a common human goal. An important group of water pollutants are the dyestuff used in industrial processes such as plastic, paint, textile, cosmetic and printing. Water pollution caused by textile dyes and other industrial dyestuffs have severe implications on aquatic environment and human health.

In previous studies, sol-gel entrapped Metal nanoparticles (M^o NPs) catalysts were applied in the catalysis of various reduction and oxidation reactions.  In this work, the sol gel synthesis route has been utilized for the preparation of ORMOSIL (organically modified silica matrices) embedded with nanoparticles of several noble metals (Au⁰, Ag⁰, Fe⁰ and Cu⁰) for their application as heterogeneous catalysts in the reduction of Methyl Orange (MO) as a model azo-dyestuff pollutant compound.

Methyl Orange (MO) is widely used in laboratory analysis, textiles and other commercial products. The release of MO into the environment cause serious pollution problem due to its toxic nature towards aquatic life. Our purposely synthesized sol-gel encapsulated noble metal nanoparticles degrade Methyl Orange by reduction with Sodium Borohydride satisfactorily and the efficiency of our catalysts is not differed through first to fifth use.