Pd Loaded TiO2 Nanotubes for the Effective Catalytic Reduction of p-Nitrophenol

• Published in: Catalysis letters Vol. 146; no. 2; pp. 474 - 482
• Main Authors: Kalarivalappil, Vijila, Divya, C. M., Wunderlich, W., Pillai, Suresh C., Hinder, Steven J., Nageri, Manoj, Kumar, V., Vijayan, Baiju K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.02.2016; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aminophenol; Anatase; Catalysis; Catalytic activity; Chemical reduction; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Collapse; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Morphology; Nanoparticles; Nanotubes; Nitrophenol; Organometallic Chemistry; Palladium; Phase transitions; Physical Chemistry; Raman spectroscopy; Scanning electron microscopy; Titanium dioxide; Transmission electron microscopy; X ray photoelectron spectroscopy; X-ray diffraction; Palladium; Anatase; Rutile; Morphology; Catalysis and reduction; Titania nanotubes
• ISSN: 1011-372X; 1572-879X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10562-015-1663-8

Titania nanotubes decorated with Pd nanoparticles were synthesised by a hydrothermal method. The increased amounts of Pd concentration is found to facilitate the anatase to rutile crystalline phase transformation as well as in collapse of the morphology as revealed by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The presence of metallic as well as the oxidized form (PdO 2 ) of surface metal ions was characterized by using XPS. The catalytic activity of the Pd loaded titania nanotubes has been demonstrated by studying the reduction of p -nitrophenol to p -aminophenol. The 1.0 mol% Pd loaded titania nanotubes has been found to exhibit optimum catalytic activity (rate constant of 0.7072 min −1 ) while those with higher amounts of Pd loading showed lower catalytic activity. It is observed that retention of tubular morphology and higher anatase content play significant roles in their catalytic activity. Graphical Abstract