Preparation and characterization of Ag-Pd bimetallic nano-catalysts in thermosensitive microgel nano-reactor

Tao Zhang; Li Li; Zhishuang Ye; Qingsong Yang; Yuchuan Tian; Xuhong Guo

doi:10.1039/c8ra02563k

Preparation and characterization of Ag-Pd bimetallic nano-catalysts in thermosensitive microgel nano-reactor

RSC Adv. 2018 May 18;8(33):18252-18259. doi: 10.1039/c8ra02563k. eCollection 2018 May 17.

Authors

Tao Zhang¹, Li Li¹, Zhishuang Ye¹, Qingsong Yang¹, Yuchuan Tian¹, Xuhong Guo^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology 200237 Shanghai P. R. China lili76131@ecust.edu.cn.
² Engineering Research Center of Materials Chemical Engineering of Xinjiang Bingtuan, Shihezi University 832000 Xinjiang P. R. China.

Abstract

Thermosensitive microgels consisting of a solid core of polystyrene and a shell of cross-linked poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPA) were synthesized as nano-reactors, in which Ag-Pd bimetallic nanoparticles were prepared through simultaneous in situ reduction reaction. The spatial distribution of metallic nanoparticles in the microgels was analyzed by small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and the results indicated that metal nanoparticles were mainly located in the inner layer of microgels. The catalytic activity of Ag-Pd bimetallic nanoparticles was investigated using the reduction of p-nitrophenol to p-aminophenol by NaBH₄ as model reaction. The data demonstrated that Ag-Pd bimetallic nanoparticles showed enhanced catalytic activity compared to each monometallic nanoparticle alone and their catalytic activity was controllable by temperature due to the volume transition of PNIPA microgels.