Gold nanoparticles supported on poly (aniline-co-pyrrole) as the efficient catalysts for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol

• Published in: Molecular catalysis Vol. 525; p. 112362
• Main Authors: Sun, Libo, Yin, Zequn, Zhang, Jie, Ren, Xinyuan, Zhang, Miao, Song, Wei, Xu, Zhiting, Qi, Caixia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.06.2022
• Subjects: 4-NP reduction; Conductive polymer support; Copolymerization; Gold catalysts; Copolymerization; Conductive polymer support; 4-NP reduction; Gold catalysts
• ISSN: 2468-8231; 2468-8231
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mcat.2022.112362

•Copolymer P(ANI-co-Py) supported gold catalysts have been prepared for the first time.•By changing the molar ratio of monomer, the morphology and structure of P(ANI-co-Py) could be changed, which provides the opportunity to modulate the electronic interactions between Au and copolymer support.•The superior catalytic performance of Au/P(5ANI-co-5Py) could be attributed to the well dispersed Au NPs, strong electronic metal-support interaction (EMSI), an appropriate adsorption of 4-NP and the negatively charged Au NPs surface. In this study, copolymer of poly (aniline-co-pyrrole) (P(ANI-co-Py)) was synthesized through copolymerization with (NH4)2S2O8 (APS) as oxidizing agent. Au nanoparticles (NPs) were deposited on P(ANI-co-Py) through the Au sol adsorption technique to obtain Au/P(ANI-co-Py) catalysts. For comparison, Au/PPy and Au/PANI were also prepared under the same procedure. The samples were characterized by SEM, TEM, XPS, N2 adsorption/desorption, XRD and FT-IR. Results imply that the P(ANI-co-Py) can be successfully prepared and can stabilize the small Au NPs with highly dispersed state. As expected, the Au/P(ANI-co-Py) catalysts, especially Au/P(5ANI-co-Py5), show efficient performance compared with Au/PANI and Au/PPy in 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) reduction. The outstanding catalytic activities of Au/P(5ANI-co-5Py) can be ascribed to well dispersed Au NPs, strong electronic metal-support interaction (EMSI), an appropriate adsorption of 4-NP and the negatively charged Au NPs surface. This work offers a facile method to provide conductive polymers supported Au catalysts with high catalytic performance and excellent reusability and clarifies their potential applications in industrial wastewater treatment. [Display omitted]