Development of Crosslinked Chitosan/Au Nanocomposite, Its Characterization and Application towards Solar Light Driven Photocatalytic Degradation of Toxic Organic Compounds

Recently, we have developed a novel nanocomposite [cl-Ch-p( DEAEM)/Au] comprised of in-situ deposition on AuNPs on cationically functionalized chitosan (in presence of chemical crosslinker) and its potential application towards efficient photocatalytic degradation of Reactive Black 5 (RB 5) and Congo red (CR) dyes under exposure of sunlight. The physical, morphological and structural properties of nanocomposite have been characterised using UV-Vis, FT-IR, H-1 and (CNMR)-C-13, PL, FESEM, TEM, EDAX, TGA, XRD, LC-MS and Zeta potential analyses. Here, it has been observed that the nanocomposite can remove both RB 5 and CR dyes rapidly and efficiently through adsorption, followed by photocatalytic degradation under exposure of sunlight. Besides, the adsorbed dyes have been isolated effectively and the nanocomposite has been regenerated in presence of sunlight just by altering the pH of the media and could be reusable for at least 4 times without remarkable decrease in its efficacy.