Fabrication of Zirconium oxide- Hydroxyapatite nanocomposite for green preparation of m-phenylenediamine

Pt-zro_2-hap nanocomposites with 3 wt% of pt and 25 wt % of hydroxyapatite were synthesized by a sol- gel method to produce a uniform hollow nanospheres. this nanocompoite was then used in the photocatalytic preparation of m-phenylenediamine. zirconia hollow nanospheres, pt-zro_2 hollow nanospheres, hydroxyapatite (hap) nanoparticles were prepared for comparison reasons. specific surface area values of zro_2, pt-zro_2 and pt-zro_2-hap were 250, 270, 350 m2/g respectively. the photocatalytic performance of the nanocomposites was studied by photo- reduction of m-nitroaniline to m-phenylenediamine under visible light. pt-zro_2-hap photocatalyst has the highest photocatalytic performance in the photo-reduction of m-nitroaniline to m- phenylenediamine compared to zirconia hollow nanospheres and pt-zro_2 hollow nanospheres.