Gold-palladium nanoalloy catalysts prepared by solid mortar grinding for homocoupling of phenylboronic acid.

Abstract

A manual solid grinding method for efficiently synthesizing a gram-scale solid chitosan-supported AuPd alloy NP catalyst is reported. A series of AuPd NPs with varying compositional structures, featuring high loading and excellent uniformity, can be deposited on a chitosan support by manually grinding a mixture of chitosan, Au and Pd metal precursors, and NaBH4 using a mortar and pestle. At lower Pd content, isolated Pd atoms are dispersed across multiple gold islands, whereas uniform AuPd alloy NPs are formed in AuPd/Chit catalysts with higher Pd content, as confirmed by XPS, HRTEM, HAADF-STEM-EDS mapping, and EXAFS analyses. The as-prepared AuPd/Chit demonstrated significant synergistic catalytic activity and selectivity in the homocoupling reaction of phenylboronic acid, even in the presence of considerable quantities of inorganic base. Additionally, AuPd/Chit catalysts prepared at the gram scale showed identical catalytic structure, activity, and selectivity to those of AuPd/Chit prepared at lower concentrations, demonstrating that manual solid grinding processes have no magnification effect (up to 2 grams). The current approach, characterized by its ease and simplicity, is anticipated to significantly advance the gram-scale synthesis of renewable biopolymer-supported bimetallic NP catalysts, thereby promoting the sustainable development of greener heterogeneous catalytic systems.

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