Synergistic effect of silver NPs immobilized on Fe 3 O 4 @L-proline magnetic nanocomposite toward the photocatalytic degradation of Victoria blue and reduction of organic pollutants

The surface of magnetite (Fe O ) nanoparticles was subject to modification through the incorporation of L-proline (LP) by simple co-precipitation method in which silver nanoparticles were deposited by in situ method, thereby yielding the Fe O @LP-Ag nanocatalyst. The fabricated nanocatalyst was characterized using an array of techniques including Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), and UV-Vis spectroscopy. The results evince that the immobilization of LP on the Fe O magnetic support facilitated the dispersion and stabilization of Ag NPs. The SPION@LP-Ag nanophotocatalyst exhibited exceptional catalytic efficiency facilitating the reduction of MO, MB, p-NP, p-NA, NB, and CR in the presence of NaBH . The rate constants obtained from the pseudo-first-order equation were 0.78, 0.41, 0.34, 0.27, 0.45, 0.44, and 0.34 min for CR, p-NP, NB, MB, MO, and p-NA, respectively. Additionally, the Langmuir-Hinshelwood model was deemed the most probable mechanism for catalytic reduction. The novelty of this study lies in the use of L-proline immobilized on Fe O MNPs as a stabilizing agent for the in-situ deposition of silver nanoparticles, resulting in the synthesis of Fe O @LP-Ag nanocatalyst. This nanocatalyst exhibits high catalytic efficacy for the reduction of multiple organic pollutants and azo dyes, which can be attributed to the synergistic effects between the magnetic support and the catalytic activity of the silver nanoparticles. The easy recyclability and low cost of the Fe O @LP-Ag nanocatalyst further enhance its potential application in environmental remediation.