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Updated: May 16, 2026

Millifluidics for Chemical Synthesis and Time-resolved Mechanistic Studies
Published on: November 27, 2013
Catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol by silver nanoparticles stabilized on environmentally benign macroscopic
1Chemical Synthesis and Pollution Control Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, China West Normal University, Shida Road 1#, Nanchong 637002, PR China. ah_aihong@163.com
Abstract:
The direct use of macroscopic biopolymer alginate hydrogels (AHs) as a green and effective carrier to stabilize silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) is presented. The Ag@AHs were characterized by UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The Ag@AHs showed excellent catalytic performance for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol by NaBH4 in aqueous solution, which can be easily separated after catalytic reaction and readily reused for three successive reaction cycles, attributing to the high stability of the Ag NPs supported by AHs. Our findings shed light on the design and fabrication of new heterogeneous catalyst with high performance based on the environmentally benign biopolymer hydrogel.
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