The Use of a Biopolymer Conjugate for an Eco-Friendly One-Pot Synthesis of Palladium-Platinum Alloys
by
Daniele Silvestri 1, 
Stanisław Wacławek 1,*
, Rohith K. Ramakrishnan 1, Abhilash Venkateshaiah 1, Kamil Krawczyk 1, Vinod V. T. Padil 1, Bartłomiej Sobel 2 and Miroslav Černík 1,*
Daniele Silvestri 1, Stanisław Wacławek 1,*, Rohith K. Ramakrishnan 1, Abhilash Venkateshaiah 1, Kamil Krawczyk 1, Vinod V. T. Padil 1, Bartłomiej Sobel 2 and Miroslav Černík 1,*
1
Institute for Nanomaterials, Advanced Technologies and Innovation, Technical University of Liberec, 46117 Liberec, Czech Republic
2
Institute of Engineering Materials and Biomaterials, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Silesian University of Technology, 44–100 Gliwice, Poland
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Polymers 2019, 11(12), 1948; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym11121948
Received: 6 November 2019 / Revised: 23 November 2019 / Accepted: 25 November 2019 / Published: 27 November 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Materials in Environmental Chemistry)
Raising health and environmental concerns over the nanoparticles synthesized from hazardous chemicals have urged researchers to focus on safer, environmentally friendlier and cheaper alternatives as well as prompted the development of green synthesis. Apart from many advantages, green synthesis is often not selective enough (among other issues) to create shape-specific nanoparticle structures. Herein, we have used a biopolymer conjugate and Pd and Pt precursors to prepare sustainable bimetallic nanoparticles with various morphology types. The nanoparticles were synthesized by a novel green approach using a bio-conjugate of chitosan and polyhydroxybutyrate (Cs-PHB). The bio-conjugate plays the simultaneous roles of a reducing and a capping agent, which was confirmed by attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) analysis, proving the presence of a Cs-PHB layer on the surface of the prepared nanoparticles. The EDS profile also revealed the elemental structure of these nanoparticles and confirmed the formation of a Pd/Pt alloy. TEM morphological analysis showed the formation of star-like, octahedron or decahedron Pd/Pt nanoparticles, depending on the synthesis conditions. The bimetallic Pd/Pt nanoparticles synthesized with various Pd/Pt molar ratios were successfully applied for the catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol by borohydride. The calculated κc values (ratio of kapp to the concentration of the catalyst) revealed that the decahedron nanoparticles (size of 15 ± 4 nm), synthesized at the molar ratio of 2:1 (Pd/Pt), temperature of 130 °C, 10 g/L of Cs-PHB conjugate and time of 30 min, exhibited excellent catalytic activity compared to other bimetallic nanoparticles reported in the literature.
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Keywords:
green synthesis; biopolymers; bimetallic nanoparticles; catalytic reduction; 4-nitrophenol
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MDPI and ACS Style
Silvestri, D.; Wacławek, S.; K. Ramakrishnan, R.; Venkateshaiah, A.; Krawczyk, K.; Padil, V.V.T.; Sobel, B.; Černík, M. The Use of a Biopolymer Conjugate for an Eco-Friendly One-Pot Synthesis of Palladium-Platinum Alloys. Polymers 2019, 11, 1948.
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