Microwave assisted green synthesis of silver nanorods as catalysts for rhodamine B degradation

Silver nanorods were prepared using aqueous extract of Citrus medica fruits under microwave irradiation for dye degradation. Green synthesized silver nanoparticles were characterized by Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The length of the silver nanorods ranges from 0.5 to 1.5 mu m and they exhibit good catalytic activity for the reduction of rhodamine dye. The degradation of rhodamine follows the pseudo first order kinetics. The rate constants were calculated for the different concentrations of rhodamine. The possible mechanism behind the catalytic performance exhibited by silver nanorods is briefly discussed.