Catalysis Letters, Vol.150, No.2, 505-513, 2020
Sonochemical Deposition of Palladium Nanoparticles Onto the Surface of N-Doped Carbon Nanotubes: A Simplified One-Step Catalyst Production Method
This work presents an easy, one-step procedure for catalyst preparation. A small fraction of palladium ions was reduced to Pd nanoparticles and deposited onto the surface of nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (N-BCNT) by acoustic cavitation using high-intensity ultrasound in aqueous phase, where N-BCNT served as a reducing agent. The formation of elemental palladium and palladium oxides were confirmed and the particle size is < 5 nm. The catalytic activity of the synthesized Pd/N-BCNT catalyst was tested in nitrobenzene hydrogenation at four different temperature (273-323 K) and 20 bar pressure. The catalyst showed high activity despite the presence of palladium oxide forms, the conversion of nitrobenzene to aniline was 98% at 323 K temperature after 40 min. The activation energy was 35.81 kJ/mol. At 303 K and 323 K temperature, N-methylaniline was formed as by-product in a small quantity (8 mmol/dm(3)). By decreasing the reaction temperature (at 273 K and 283 K), the reaction rate was also lower, but it was favourable for aniline selectivity, and not formed n-methylaniline. All in all, Pd/N-BCNT catalyst was successfully produced by using a one-step sonochemical method, where further activation was not necessary as the catalytic system was applicable in nitrobenzene hydrogenation. Graphic