Growth and Properties of CdSe Nanoparticles on Ellagic Acid Biotemplates for Photodegradation Applications

The development of new materials for degradation of toxic waste is of major significance from an environmental standpoint. In this work, natural plant polyphenol based microassemblies, specifically Ellagic Acid (EA) assemblies were utilized as templates for the growth of CdSe nanoparticles. It was found that EA assemblies efficiently bound to cadmium ions by complexation with the phenolic hydroxyl groups, allowing the formation of CdSe nanoparticles coated EA assemblies in the subsequent step. The nanoparticles formed uniformly coated the templates and were in the size range of 20-30 nm. The binding interactions of the nanoparticles with EA were explored by various spectroscopic and microscopic methods. Further, the thermal stability and the ability of the nanocomposites to photodegrade alizarin red, a model toxic aromatic compound was examined. It was found that alizarin red was degraded efficiently in the presence of the CdSe nanoparticle bound to EA assemblies. Thus, we have created a new class of nanocomposites that may have potential applications in the degradation of toxic aromatic compounds for environmental remediation.