In-situ reduced silver nanoparticles on populus fiber and the catalytic application

Highlights: • A composite involved in in-situ chelating AgNPs on natural cellulose was prepared. • Polyamidoxime grafted from the cellulose adsorbed Ag+ which was reduced to AgNPs. • The composite exhibits excellent catalytic activity in reducing 4-nitrophenol. - Abstract: One kind of composites involved in silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) loading in-situ on natural populus fiber (PF) matrix was prepared by polyamidoxime (PAO) functionalized the cellulose fiber. In which PAO worked as trapping and stabilizing agents chelating silver ions and made it reduced in-situ to obtain AgNPs by borohydride at room temperature. The synthesized composites were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Moreover, the composites showed significant catalytic activity 1.87 s⁻¹ g⁻¹ and repeated usability more than 7 cycles in reducing 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) into 4-aminophenol (4-AP) detected by UV–vis spectrophotometer in aqueous solution due to the surface-enhanced immobility and large amount of AgNPs. The natural cellulose fiber provides a green platform to react and support other noble metals for wide catalytic reactions.