Nanoporous cellulose membrane doped with silver for continuous catalytic decolorization of organic dyes

Despite the rapid progress in the development of catalysts for dye decolorization, the simultaneous catalyzing and product separation to achieve continuous processing remains a great challenge. Here, silver nanoparticle-doped bacterial cellulose (AgNP@BC) nanoporous membrane with AgNP diameter of ~ 8.1 nm is successfully fabricated without employing any other reductants, capping or dispersing agents. In the procedure, BC hydrogel with 3D network acts as not only a stable scaffold, but also a reductant for the synthesis of AgNPs. The as-prepared membrane exhibits high efficiency of continuous catalytic decolorization toward two typical organic dyes (rhodamine 6G and methyl orange) due to its distinct nanoporous structure. Furthermore, it shows excellent recyclability with a decolorization efficiency of ~ 99% even after ten times of reusing. Our strategy offers a novel, simple and eco-friendly route for the fabrication of nanoporous catalytic membrane and opens up new opportunities for the continuous catalytic decolorization of dyes in scalable application.