Application of electroactive Au/aniline tetramer-graphene oxide composites as a highly efficient reusable catalyst

Guan-Hui Lai; Yi-Chen Chou; Bi-Sheng Huang; Ta-I Yang; Mei-Hui Tsai

doi:10.1039/d0ra08535a

Application of electroactive Au/aniline tetramer-graphene oxide composites as a highly efficient reusable catalyst

RSC Adv. 2020 Dec 22;11(1):71-77. doi: 10.1039/d0ra08535a. eCollection 2020 Dec 21.

Authors

Guan-Hui Lai¹, Yi-Chen Chou², Bi-Sheng Huang¹, Ta-I Yang³, Mei-Hui Tsai^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Ph. D. Program, Graduate Institute of Precision Manufacturing, National Chin-Yi University of Technology Taichung 41170 Taiwan tsaimh@ncut.edu.tw.
² Department of Applied Cosmetology, Hungkuang University Taichung 44302 Taiwan jacs1@hk.edu.tw.
³ Department of Chemical Engineering, Chung Yuan Christian University Chung Li 32023 Taiwan taiyang@cycu.edu.tw.
⁴ Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, National Chin-Yi University of Technology Taichung 41170 Taiwan.

Abstract

This study proposes a cost-effective, energy-saving, and green process that uses π-π interactions to modify graphene oxide (GO), and the conjugate structure of aniline tetramer (AT) to enhance the dispersion of GO. Au/aniline tetramer-graphene oxide (Au/ATGO) composites were synthesized and applied as a catalyst in this study. The adsorption of AT on GO, via π-π interaction, formed ATGO composites. Subsequently, the amine group on ATGO was stably anchored on Au nanoparticles (Au NPs) to form Au/ATGO composites. The Au/ATGO composites were characterized and the electroactive properties determined by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and cyclic voltammetry. The Au/ATGO composites showed excellent performance and stability as catalysts when applied for the reduction of nitrophenol to aminophenol within 225 s and the rate constant was 0.02 s^-1. The activation energy for the reduction of 4-NP and 2-NP was 48.10 and 68.71 kJ mol^-1, respectively. Following a recycling test repeated 20 times, the Au/ATGO composites maintained a conversion rate higher than 94%.