Alginate Biopolymer FeNi Nanocomposite Blend Stabilizes Cu Nanoparticles Template for Hydrogenation of Nitrophenol and dyes Discoloration

In the current work, alginate (Alg) biopolymer was blended with FeNi nanoparticles (Alg-FeNi) in 1, 3, and 5 weight% and are described as Alg-FeNi1, Alg-FeNi3, and Alg-FeNi5 respectively and are cross-linked by using CaCl 2 as a cross-linker. This different Alg-FeNi blend was a solid supporting medium for stabilizing Cu NPs (Cu@Alg-FeNi). The synthesized catalyst was characterized through FESEM, EDS, Raman, and XRD. The templates of Cu@Alg-FeNi1-5 were used as dip-catalysis for the hydrogenation of 4-nitrophenol (4NP) and discoloration of methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) dyes in an aqueous medium by using NaBH 4 as a reductant. Various kinetics models were used to deduce the rate constant ( k app ) and R 2 values for the degradation reactions. By increasing the amount of FeNi, the reaction rate was also enhanced for all three model pollutants, and Cu@Alg-FeNi5 exhibited the most potent catalyst activity. The k app and R 2 value derived from zeroth order kinetics was 3.8 × 10 − 1 min − 1 and 0.9188 R 2 values. In the case of 4NP, MB, and MO dyes, the experimental data were well-fitted in zero-order kinetics, suggesting that the reaction rate is independent of the reactant concentration. Simultaneous removal of 4NP and MB indicated its practical applicability, and the catalyst showed good recyclability.