Lignosulfonate functionalized kaolin-Ag hybrid catalyst for highly effective dye decolorization

Abstract

Abstract In this work, the immobilization of silver nanoparticles on lignosulfonate functionalized kaolin composite (LS-kaolin-Ag) was fabricated by a facile reduction method without additional reductant and stabilizer. Transmission electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were used to confirm the successful preparation of LS-kaolin-Ag composite. The catalytic reduction tests on both cationic dye rhodamine B and anionic dye Congo red indicated the high catalytic activities of this as-prepared LS-kaolin-Ag composite. Meanwhile, this catalyst showed good recyclability for dye decolorization with just a little decrease of conversion percent in five successive reactions. These results suggest that LS-kaolin-Ag composite as an efficient and cost-effective catalyst shows great application potential for the decolorization of various organic dyes.