In-situ synthesis of magnetic nanoparticle immobilized heterogeneous catalyst through mussel mimetic approach for the efficient removal of water pollutants

Naturally occurring 2:1 layered phyllosilicate tactoids decorated by in situ synthesized magnetite nanoparticles via mussel inspired surface chemistry. Polydopamine has been exploited here to promote surface energy of the clay tactoids resulting in fast anchoring of magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) on to the phyllosilicate layers. Such a typical metal-organic framework based heterogeneous catalyst has immense interest in wastewater treatment. 4-nitrophenol and Congo red were selected here as model pollutants, which degraded to the aqueous environment in minimal real-time. Nonetheless, the catalyst fractions are easy to remove by magneto-gravimetric strategy and also recycled up to six times without deteriorating its catalytic features.