Silver nanoparticle-embedded RGO-nanosponge for superior catalytic activity towards 4-nitrophenol reduction

Abstract

The present work highlights a bio-inspired synthesis of uniform 2 nm sized plasmonic silver nanospheres (Ag-NSs) embedded in reduced graphene oxide nanosponge (RGONS) using Tabebuia berteroi leaf extract. The green reduced RGONS/Ag-NSs is very clean and displays a fabulous catalytic activity towards the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) in the presence of ice cold NaBH₄ solution. Various analytical techniques were adopted to confirm the composition and structure of the crystalline nanocatalyst materials, including UV-visible absorption spectroscopy, FT-IR, XRD, Raman spectroscopy, HR-TEM and EDX. The formation of Ag-NSs, RGONS and RGONS/Ag-NSs, catalytic mechanism, stability and reusability of the catalyst were also investigated. The catalytic activity of RGONS/Ag-NSs is found to be superior to that ever reported.