Synthesis of silver-nanoparticles composite with highly catalytic activity supported on the reduced graphene oxide

Ag-based catalyst rGO/PDA/Ag, which is supported on the reduced graphene oxide (rGO), have been synthesized under mild conditions by an environment-friendly and facile strategy through self-polymerization between dopamine (DPA) and GO as well as Ag nanoparticles (NPs). The relevant structural characterizations were performed by Raman, XRD, XPS, SEM and TEM. The influence of the amount of poly(dopamine) (PDA) and Ag on the catalytic performance of rGO/PDA-x/Ag-y (x = 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, y = 5, 10, 15, 20) catalysts were systematically investigated towards the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol (4-AP). Among these catalysts, the fabricated rGO/PDA-2/Ag-15 catalyst exhibits the best catalytic performance. Recycling results demonstrate the catalyst possesses excellent stability. Furthermore, the catalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) is also evaluated by using the developed rGO/PDA-2/Ag-15 catalyst at room temperature without using light resource, indicating that the rGO/PDA-2/Ag-15 catalyst shows excellent performance for the degradation performance of MB.