Confinement of silver nanoparticles in polystyrenes through molecular entanglements and their application for catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol. Issue 36 (3rd September 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Huang, Ping-Tsung; Chen, Yu-Ning; Chen, Kuan-Chung; Wu, Shun-Huei; Liu, Ching-Ping
• Is Part Of: Journal of materials chemistry. Volume 7:Issue 36(2019)
• Page Start: 20919
• Page End: 20925
• Publication Date: 2019-09-03
• Subjects: Materials -- Research -- Periodicals; Chemistry, Analytic -- Periodicals; Environmental sciences -- Research -- Periodicals; 543.0284
• DOI: 10.1039/c9ta06619e
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2050-7488

Abstract

Abstract : Highly efficient PS-AgNPs were synthesized to study how molecular entanglements and S–Ag bonds affect the catalytic reaction of 4-nitrophenol. Abstract : The limited stability and aggregation of colloidal nanoparticles are typically major issues in catalysis. In this work, a highly efficient polystyrene based nano-silver containing polymer (PS-AgNPs) has been synthesized as a catalyst for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol. Entanglements of polystyrene chains restrict the aggregation of AgNPs in the polymer side chains and give rise to a stable nano-silver domain size. The domain size of nano-silver in both low Ag content PS-AgNPs (L-PS-AgNPs) and high Ag content PS-AgNPs (H-PS-AgNPs) is around 15 nm (in films). No intensified Ag aggregation occurs as the Ag concentration increases. Based on kinetic measurements of the catalytic model reaction of 4-nitrophenol, the linear relationship between the rate constant k app and different Ag concentrations in L-PS-AgNPs was extended by two orders of magnitude of the Ag concentration for the first time. These results indicated that AgNPs in L-PS-AgNPs were homogeneously distributed and exhibited excellent dispersion stability. Additionally, the catalytic performance of H-PS-AgNPs was comparable to a microreactor including the core of AgNPs/SiO2 and polymer shell. In this work, H-PS-AgNPs based on molecular entanglements were relatively simple as compared to the core/shell design of microreactors, which provided a new strategy to confine the size domain of metal nanoparticles immobilized on polymers.