Photocatalytic Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles Using Preyssler Acid and Their Photocatalytic Activity

Abstract

Preyssler acid H14[NaP5W30O110] was used as reducing agent and stabilizer for the synthesis of gold nanoparticles by photolysis of Au（III）/Preyssler acid/propan-2-ol solution.Preyssler acid plays both the role of transferring electrons from propan-2-ol to Au（III） and stabilizing the nanoparticles.Propan-2-ol was used as sacrificial reagent for the photoformation of reduced Preyssler acid.Gold nanoparticles （Au NPs） were characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy,transmission electron microscopy （TEM）,and particle size distribution （PSD） measurements.The synthesized Au NPs had a uniform hexagonal morphology and their size was about 17 nm.The catalytic performance of these NPs for photodegradation of methyl orange （MeO） was investigated in aqueous solution.UV-Vis studies showed that Au NPs can catalyze photodegradation of this azo dye.The pseudo-first-order rate constants were also calculated for this reaction.