Cotton fibers were collected from the high agriculture school
farm in Mansoura, Egypt and treated by desizing in 1% (v/v) H2SO4
and scouring in 1% (w/v) NaOH. The fibers were then washed
with distilled water and absolute ethanol and finally the cleaned
fibers were dried in oven at 50 ◦C till constant weight. Acrylonitrile
(AN)(Sigma–Aldrich) was purified by treatment with 3% (w/w)
NaOH solution and then washed with distilled water until free from
alkali. Potassium persulphate(KPS) (Sigma–Aldrich), Thiourea (TU)
(BDH-England); hydrazine hydrate (Adwic); phenylisothiocyanate
(Sigma–Aldrich), AuCl3, PdCl2 and AgNO3 were purchased from
Sigma Aldrich. All chemicals were used as received.