New reusable material to mitigate water pollution by dyes

A new material could help mitigate the problem of textile dye-polluted water, suggests a recent report by scientists from the University of Delhi published in the international journal Applied Surface Science. 

The new material is a catalyst made by linking gold nanoparticles to a chemical substance called poly dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (PDMAEMA). Because of PDMAEMA, gold nanoparticles align to form a worm-like structure.   Hence, the material is named as gold nanoworm. “PDMAEMA plays a very important role by capping gold nanoparticles for growth of nanoparticle into a worm like structure”, say scientists. The gold nanoworm is immobilized on a sheet of graphene oxide for structural support.

The material made of gold nanoworms could effectively degrade organic dyes like Rhodamine B, EosinY, and methyl orange into harmless products. Organic dyes are difficult to degrade owing to their ultra stable chemical structure.

India ranks second in the global textile manufacturing after China. The textile industries use dyes to impart colors to textiles. The unused dyes are discarded via drains that ultimately pollute groundwater and water bodies. This called for catalysts that can efficiently degrade organic dyes. It is preferred if they are reusable and environment-friendly.

The new material made of gold nanoworms can be reused atleast five times. “It is easy to use, highly efficient, recyclable, which make it suitable for applications in waste water management”, say scientists Navin Kumar Mogha, Saransh Gosain, and Dhanraj T Masram at the University of Delhi.

This catalyst could degrade more than 80% of the organic dyes in water in less than 100 seconds, which invigorates that it can be used to treat dye-polluted water in the future. 

Published- India Science Wire

Reference: Applied Surface Science 396: 1427–1434.

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