Designing an efficient heterogeneous photo-catalyst based on ZnO nanoparticles as support in a carbonaceous network. Issue 2 (April 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Jameie, Leila; Shahzeydi, Alireza; Ghiaci, Mehran; Sun, Mingxuan
• Is Part Of: Journal of environmental chemical engineering. Volume 9:Issue 2(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-04
• Subjects: Ag-Pd alloy nanoparticles -- Carbonaceous belt -- Nanoparticles as support -- Reduction of 4-nitrophenol -- Photo-catalyst; Chemical engineering -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; Environmental engineering -- Periodicals; Chemical engineering -- Environmental aspects; Environmental engineering; Periodicals; 660.0286
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jece.2021.105086
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2213-2929

Abstract

Abstract: Research on developing efficient catalysts can be considered as one of the biggest tasks in chemistry. In this study, diverse amounts of Ag-Pd nanoparticles loaded on ZnO nanoparticles buried in carbonaceous networks (denoted as Ag-Pd/ZnO@C) were synthesized by the incomplete calcination of polyvinylpyrrolidone at 400 °C. The fabricated catalysts were applied for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol at room temperature in the presence of NaBH4 under two different conditions (dark and visible light irradiation). Transformation of polymer chains to carbonaceous networks acted as a tight frame around nanoparticles, helping the separation of the catalyst from the reaction medium. Also, it could promote the catalytic efficiency by increasing the transfer rate of the active hydrogen species to 4-nitrophenolate ions. In this study, the best performance composite Ag10-Pd5/ZnO@C0.5 (subscripts represent the amounts of the applied raw materials) exhibited the rate constant k = 0.61 min −1 and TOF = 117.9 h −1 for reducing 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol in dark conditions. Moreover, the synthesized composites showed a higher catalytic activity in comparison to the other reported catalysts, which could be used as the photo-catalysts at the visible light irradiation. The rate constant and TOF of the best performance composite were increased to 0.84 min −1 and 153.4 h −1, respectively, in the presence of the visible light at room temperature. Therefore, this work could open a new route for the preparation of highly active surface catalysts based on nanoparticles as support. Graphical Abstract: ga1 Highlights: Growth of cabonaceous fibers network over the surface of an Ag-Pd/ZnO hybrid. The composite Ag10 -Pd5 /ZnO@C0.5 reduced 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol in dark conditions. The rate constant and TOF of the best performance composite increased in the presence of the visible light at room temperature.