The silver nanoparticles were used in the catalytic electron transfer reaction between hexacyanoferrate (III) and sodium borohydride, resulting in the formation of hexacyanoferrate (II) ions and dihydrogen borate ions. The redox reaction is depicted as:
[BH4] - + 8[Fe (CN) 6] -3 + 3H2O H2BO3 - + 8[Fe (CN) 6] -4+ 8H+
The reaction can even proceed without a catalyst, but it has been reported that it is a slow reaction, which follows zero-order kinetics. The progress of the reduction reaction of Potassium hexacyanoferrate (III) to Potassium hexacyanoferrate (II) was monitored through changes in the UV-visible spectrum. The characteristic absorption peak of hexacyanoferrate (III) is located at 420 nm. On the addition of nanoparticles, the …show more content…
intensity of the absorption peak was continuously decreased with time revealing the occurrence of catalysed reduction (Fig.
5). The redox reaction is a pseudo first-order reaction with respect to hexacyanoferrate (III). As the concentration of NaBH4 is greater than that of hexacyanoferrate (III), the reduction rate can be assumed to be independent of NaBH4 concentration. During the redox reaction period, AgNPs surface Plasmon band (425) remains unchanged. This is clear evidence that the silver nano particles do not aggregate during their redox reaction. In addition, there is no chemical reaction between the reactants and the nanoparticles. The kinetics of reduction reaction of hexacyanoferrate (III) catalyzed by silver nanoparticles was studied at different temperatures (30-70 0C) and different amounts of catalyst. The reaction was carried out
keeping all experimental conditions such as initial hexacyanoferrate (III) concentration, borohydride concentration and temperature constant. The rate constants were calculated by varying the amount of silver nanoparticles (50-250 µl). Rate constant values were plotted against varying amount of catalyst as shown in the Fig. 6. The reaction rate is found to increase linearly.