Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Oct 8;14(19):1611.
doi: 10.3390/nano14191611.

Sustainable and Reusable Modified Membrane Based on Green Gold Nanoparticles for Efficient Methylene Blue Water Decontamination by a Photocatalytic Process

Lucia Mergola  1 , Luigi Carbone  2 , Ermelinda Bloise  3 , Maria Rosaria Lazzoi  1 , Roberta Del Sole  1
Affiliations

Sustainable and Reusable Modified Membrane Based on Green Gold Nanoparticles for Efficient Methylene Blue Water Decontamination by a Photocatalytic Process

Lucia Mergola et al. Nanomaterials (Basel). .

Abstract

Methylene blue (MB) is a dye hazardous pollutant widely used in several industrial processes that represents a relevant source of water pollution. Thus, the research of new systems to avoid their environmental dispersion represents an important goal. In this work, an efficient and sustainable nanocomposite material based on green gold nanoparticles for MB water remediation was developed. Starting from the reducing and stabilizing properties of some compounds naturally present in Lambrusco winery waste (grape marc) extracts, green gold nanoparticles (GM-AuNPs) were synthesized and deposited on a supporting membrane to create an easy and stable system for water MB decontamination. GM-AuNPs, with a specific plasmonic band at 535 nm, and the modified membrane were first characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and electron microscopy. Transmission electron microscopy analysis revealed the presence of two breeds of crystalline shapes, triangular platelets and round-shaped penta-twinned nanoparticles, respectively. The crystalline nature of GM-AuNPs was also confirmed from XRD analysis. The photocatalytic performance of the modified membrane was evaluated under natural sunlight radiation, obtaining a complete disappearance of MB (100%) in 116 min. The photocatalytic process was described from a pseudo-first-order kinetic with a rate constant (k) equal to 0.044 ± 0.010 min-1. The modified membrane demonstrated high stability since it was reused up to 20 cycles, without any treatment for 3 months, maintaining the same performance. The GM-AuNPs-based membrane was also tested with other water pollutants (methyl orange, 4-nitrophenol, and rhodamine B), revealing a high selectivity towards MB. Finally, the photocatalytic performance of GM-AuNPs-based membrane was also evaluated in real samples by using tap and pond water spiked with MB, obtaining a removal % of 99.6 ± 1.2% and 98.8 ± 1.9%, respectively.

Keywords: gold nanoparticles; grape marc; green synthesis; methylene blue; photocatalysis; sustainability; water remediation; winery waste.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Scheme 1
Scheme 1
Schematic representation of GM-AuNPs-based membrane preparation.
Figure 1
Figure 1
UV–vis spectra of crude reaction (diluted 1/10; v/v) at regular intervals of time (a) and comparison between UV–vis spectra of HAuCl4·3H2O (1 mM; diluted 1/10; v/v) solution and synthesized GM-AuNPs (diluted 1/10; v/v) (b).
Figure 2
Figure 2
UV–vis near-infrared reflectance (NIR) extinction spectrum of GM-AuNPs.
Figure 3
Figure 3
TEM and STEM (inset) analysis of GM-AuNPs.
Figure 4
Figure 4
XRD pattern of GM-AuNPs deposited on a glass slide.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Comparison between the membrane before (a) and after GM-AuNPs deposition (b).
Figure 6
Figure 6
SEM analysis of GM-AuNPs-based membrane at lower (a) and larger magnification (b) and of pristine membrane (c).
Figure 7
Figure 7
UV–vis absorption spectra of MB photodegradation using GM-AuNPs-based membrane under sunlight radiation at regular intervals of time.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Kinetic performance (a) and pseudo-first-order kinetic linearized model (b) of GM-AuNPs-based membrane in the dark and under sunlight radiation.
Figure 9
Figure 9
FT-IR spectra of MB solution before (b) and after (a) photocatalytic degradation.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Pristine PVDF membrane before (a) and after sunlight incubation with MB solution (b).
Figure 11
Figure 11
FT-IR spectra of MB solution (a), pristine membrane (b), and GM-AuNPs-based membrane (c) after sunlight incubation for 2 h with MB solution.
Figure 12
Figure 12
Comparison of kinetic performance of GM-AuNPs-based membrane towards other pollutants.
Figure 13
Figure 13
Removal rate (%) obtained after reuse of modified membrane for 20 cycles.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Alprol A.E., Mansour A.T., Abdelwahab A.M., Ashour M. Advances in Green Synthesis of Metal Oxide Nanoparticles by Marine Algae for Wastewater Treatment by Adsorption and Photocatalysis Techniques. Catalysts. 2023;13:888. doi: 10.3390/catal13050888. - DOI
    1. Policarpo Tonelli F.M., Santos Silva C., Silva Delgado V.M., Policarpo Tonelli F.C. Algae-based green AgNPs, AuNPs, and FeNPs as potential nanoremediators. Green Process. Synth. 2023;12:20230008. doi: 10.1515/gps-2023-0008. - DOI
    1. Din M.I., Khalid R., Najee J., Hussain Z. Fundamentals and photocatalysis of methylene blue dye using various nanocatalytic assemblies—A critical review. J. Clean. Prod. 2021;298:126567. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126567. - DOI
    1. Omran B.A., Baek K.H. Valorization of agro-industrial biowaste to green nanomaterials for wastewater treatment: Approaching green chemistry and circular economy principles. J. Environ. Manag. 2022;311:114806. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.114806. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cao Q., Li Q., Pi Z., Zhang J., Sun L.-W., Xu J., Cao Y., Cheng J., Bian Y. Metal–Organic-Framework-Derived Ball-Flower-like Porous Co3O4/Fe2O3 Heterostructure with Enhanced Visible-Light-Driven Photocatalytic Activity. Nanomaterials. 2022;12:904. doi: 10.3390/nano12060904. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources