Silver nanoparticles embedded cation-exchange membrane for remediation of Hg species and application as the dip catalyst in organic transformation

Silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) embedded in poly(perfluorosulfonic) acid cation-exchange membrane (Nafion-211) were synthesized by in situ reductions of Ag⁺ ions by sodium borohydride at room temperature and formamide at 65 °C. The formamide-reduction formed Ag NPs uniformly distributed in the membrane matrix. Therefore, the formamide-reduced Ag NPs embedded membranes were used for the sorption-preconcentration of Mercury (Hg)²⁺ ions by the galvanic reaction with Ag NPs in the membrane matrix. The replacement of Ag⁰ in NPs with Hg²⁺ ions resulted in the formation of Hg⁰ accumulated as nanodroplets in the membrane matrix as indicated by the field emission scanning electron microscopy studies. The sorption of Hg²⁺ ions via galvanic reaction in the Nafion membrane was found to be maximum (>93%) from pH = 2.5 to pH = 6.5. The Ag NPs embedded membrane was studied for Hg²⁺ ions sorption from the aqueous samples by radiotracer (²⁰³Hg), spectrophotometry, energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence and cold vapor atomic absorption spectrophotometry. This membrane was successfully applied for the determination and quantification of Hg²⁺ ions in the real water samples and safe storage of Hg for the remediation objective. The Hg⁰ embedded membrane was also found to be promising as the dip catalyst in the representative organic transformation of phenylacetylene to acetophenone. The Hg⁰ embedded membrane dip catalyst was reused in four consecutive cycles under similar conditions and found to be successful by giving an almost similar yield (%) of the product. This demonstrated a possibility of safe application of Hg⁰ stored in the matrix of poly(perfluorosulfonate) membrane for catalysis.