Simultaneous Deposition of Poly(o-anisidine) and Noble Ag Particles on Wool Fabric and The Evaluation of Its Performance as a Catalyst in Dye Reduction

Abstract

The conductive poly(o-anisidine) (POA) and noble Ag particles were simultaneously depositedon wool fabrics, by the polymerization of o-anisidine with the oxidant mixtures of silver nitrate andammonium persulfate in different sulfonic acids media. The effect of concentrations of sulfonic acids wasinvestigated on the contents of conductive components (POA/Ag%) and volume resistivity of thecomposites. The change in the surface morphology of POA coating, distribution of Ag particles andconformance of noble Ag particles were identified with SEM, EDX, and XRD techniques, respectively. It wasobserved that the usage of sulfonic acids significantly increased the coating density of the POA/Ag,compared to a control sample prepared in 1.0 M HNO3 solution. The composites were tested in the catalyticreduction of a dye molecule (methylene blue) with the existence of excess sodium borohydride, and arelatively high catalytic activity (70%) was obtained at 75 min compared to a control POA/wool sample.