Characterization of hybrid Dimercaptosuccinic Acid coated Fe3O4/gold core-shell nanoparticles for catalytic degradation of water contaminants / Noorfarah Asyiqin Noorossaidy

The aims of this study are to characterize Dimercaptosuccinic Acid (DMSA) coated iron oxide/gold core-shell nanoparticles and identify its feasibility towards water remediation application. In order to achieve the final structure of the catalyst, one by one synthesis need to be done. Iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) was synthesized using co-precipitation method and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) was synthesized by citrate reduction method. Optical absorption spectra towards the synthesis of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) was done by the Ultraviolet Visible Spectrophotometer (UV- VIS) while the morphology of the final structure was determined by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The feasibility of the catalyst was tested towards chloramphenicol and rhodamine b base dye. For the degradation of chloramphenicol using catalyst and sodium borohydride the percentage was 32%. The study proceeded by using rhodamine b base with hydrogen peroxide and the degradation achieved was 12%. However, with both sodium borohydride and hydrogen peroxide, the percent degradation reached up to 82%. The result revealed that DMSA coated iron oxide/gold core-shell nanoparticles can be further synthesis in order to obtain a perfect morphology and thus improve the degradation efficiency by only using a single reducing agent.