Zirconium nanoparticles-poly (N-isopropylacrylamide-methacrylic acid) hybrid microgels decorated graphene sheets for catalytic reduction of organic pollutants

First approach towards fabrication of zirconium-microgels@graphene is developed in this work. Hybrid microgels are loaded onto graphene sheets to boost the electron relay among pollutants and borohydride ions. For this purpose, poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-methacrylic acid) p(NIPAM-MAA) microgel is synthesized through precipitation polymerization method. Zirconium nanoparticle is fabricated inside microgels through in-situ reduction of zirconium ions then hybrid microgels are decorated onto graphene. Zr-p(NIPAM-MAA)@graphene composite is used as catalyst for reduction of following organic pollutants: Congo red, 4-nitrophenol, Safranine, methylene orange, methylene blue, 4-nitroanisole, 2,4 dinitrophenol and 4-nitrobenzoic acid. Values of apparent rate constant, percentage reduction and reduction time are calculated and compared.