Au-Pd bimetallic nanoparticles embedded highly porous Fenugreek polysaccharide based micro networks for catalytic applications

Abstract

Currently, metallic nanoparticles possessing versatile heterogeneous catalytic functionality such as in hydrogenation, water splitting, hydrogen production and CO₂ reduction for global pollution remediation have been paid great attentions due to their high chemical stability, superior activity and unique electrical and optical properties. However, the gradual degradation of their catalytic activity on multiple usage limits the monometallic nanoparticles to industrial applications. Herein, we fabricated the highly porous fenugreek polysaccharide assisted green synthesis of AuPd nanostructures for heterogeneous catalytic hydrogenation of the industrial usable highly toxic 4-nitrophenol to the medicinally useful 4-aminophenol. The aqueous method developed in the present work is environmentally friendly, simple and low-cost procedure. The fabricated bimetallic porous AuPd nanostructures characterized using SEM, TEM, UV-Vis, XRD, XPS and FTIR analysis. The catalytic activity of the synthesized nanostructures was studied for the heterogeneous hydrogenation of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol in presence of NaBH₄, and the catalytic kinetic for the hydrogenation was analyzed via an UV-Vis spectrometer.

Keywords: 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol; Gold-palladium nanoparticles; Green synthesis; Hydrogenation.