Eco-friendly synthesis of nanosized Ag and Cu for the catalytic disintegration of 4-nitrophenol

An eco-friendly strategy was developed for the preparation of silver and copper nanoparticles using Tecoma stans (TS) flower extract. The synthesized nanostructures exhibited predominantly spherical morphologies, with particle sizes of 9.8 nm and 3.6 nm for silver and copper, respectively. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed the face-centered cubic (fcc) of the nanoparticles. The catalytic activity of prepared nanoparticles was assessed toward 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) reduction under the presence of NaBH 4 . Compared with sivler nanoparticles, the copper nano catalysts demonstrated excellent catalytic activity achieving rapid conversion of 4-NP to 4-aminophenol (4-AP) with 93.5% catalytic efficiency. Furthermore, the catalysts demonstrated good reusability, and retaining the conversion efficiency of 95% even after five reaction cycles. The environmentally friendly synthesis, high catalytic performance, and recyclability highlight the ability of Ag and Cu nanoparticles for diverse catalytic applications.