Hairy silica nanosphere supported metal nanoparticles for reductive degradation of dye pollutants

Hairy materials can act as a sort of scaffold for the fabrication of functional hybrid composites. In this work, silica nanospheres modified with covalently grafted poly(4-vinylpyridine) (P4VP) brushes, namely, "hairy" silica spheres, were utilized as a support for the anchorage of metal nanoparticles (MNPs), thus resulting in the hierarchical SiO₂@P4VP/MNP structure. In this triple-phase boundary heteronanostructure, the SiO₂-supported MNPs are well stabilized by the P4VP matrix to avoid aggregation and leaching. These SiO₂@P4VP/MNP nanocomposites exhibit good catalytic activity in the reductive degradation of organic dyes, i.e., 4-nitrophenol and rhodamine B and possess excellent stability and recyclability for five successive cycles.