Synthesis of Nanosilica for the Removal of Multicomponent Cd and Cu from Synthetic Water: An Experimental and Theoretical Study.

Copper and cadmium ions are among the top 120 hazardous chemicals listed by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) that can bind to organic and inorganic chemicals. Silica is one of the most abundant oxides that can limit the transport of these chemicals into water resources. Limited work has focused on assessing the applicability of nanosilica for the removal of multicomponent metal ions and studying their interaction on the surface of this adsorbent.

Rational design of a polypyrrole-based competent bifunctional magnetic nanocatalyst.

The combination of conducting polymers with semiconductors for the fabrication of organic/inorganic hybrid nanocatalysts is one of the most promising research areas for many applications. In this work, the synthesized nanocomposite combines several advantages such as the photoresponse shift from the UV region toward visible light by narrowing the band gap of the semiconductor, magnetic separation ability and dual applications including the catalytic reduction of -nitrophenol (PNP) and the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye. In addition to the core magnetite nanoparticles (NPs), the synthesized nanocomposite contains polypyrrole (PPY) and TiO shells that are decorated with silver metal NPs to prevent electron-hole recombination and to enhance the catalytic performance.