Preparation of Nickel Nanoparticles in Spherical Polyelectrolyte Brush Nanoreactor and Their Catalytic Activity

• Published in: Industrial & engineering chemistry research Vol. 50; no. 24; pp. 13848 - 13853
• Main Authors: Zhu, Zhongming, Guo, Xuhong, Wu, Shuang, Zhang, Rui, Wang, Jie, Li, Li
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 21.12.2011
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Brushes; Catalysis; Catalytic activity; Catalytic reactions; Chemical engineering; Chemistry; Exact sciences and technology; General and physical chemistry; Materials and Interfaces; Nanoparticles; Nanostructure; Nickel; Polyelectrolytes; Rate constants; Reactors; Reduction; Theory of reactions, general kinetics. Catalysis. Nomenclature, chemical documentation, computer chemistry; Polyelectrolyte; Nanoparticle; Catalyst activity; Preparation
• ISSN: 0888-5885; 1520-5045
• DOI: 10.1021/ie2017306

Nickel nanoparticles (Ni-NPs) with controlled size and narrow size distribution were successfully prepared in spherical poly (acrylic acid) (PAA) brushes (SPBs). The brushes act as nanoreactors for generating the Ni-NPs via adsorption of nickel ions in the brushes and subsequent reduction by addition of NaBH4. The size of Ni-NPs can be well-controlled in several nanometers and with narrow size-distribution. Most interestingly, the size can be tuned by the reaction temperature: the average size increased from 3 to 7 nm upon increasing the reaction temperature from 273 to 303 K. The catalytic activity of these Ni-NPs trapped in SPBs were evaluated using a model reaction based on the reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol by NaBH4. The kinetic data were observed to follow the pseudofirst-order rate law, and the apparent rate constant was linearly dependent on the total surface area of the Ni-NPs and the reaction temperatures. This work opens a new way to prepare well-controlled Ni-NPs which should be ideal candidates for catalysts with high performance.