Preparation and catalytic performance of polymer gold nanocomposites

Abstract

The development of efficient heterogeneous catalysts for reductive conversion of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) is of vital significance for environmental remediation, dyestuff industry, pharmaceutical industry. We reported that Au@D201, a polymer gold nanocomposite of gold nanoparticles loaded on D201 resin, was prepared using macroporous styrenic ion exchange resin D201 as carrier, chloroauric acid as gold source and sodium borohydride as reducing agent. The average diameter of gold nanoparticles in Au@D201 composites is 5 nm, which has excellent catalytic properties for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol. The Au@D201 was characterized by ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, mercury injection instrument, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results reveal that some of the gold nanoparticles were loaded on the surface of the resin, and most of the gold nanoparticles were in the resin pores. A strong chemical interaction, between the gold nanoparticles and the resin, is similar to the cross-linking action of the macromolecules. The gold nanoparticles provide a new cross-linking point for the resin, increasing the degree of cross-linking of the resin and causing some degree of resin ordering to occur. XPS shows that the electron density of the outer layer of the gold atom increases, indicating that there are some conjugated interactions between the resin and gold atoms. Conjugated interactions and the gold quantum size effect are the main reasons for improving the catalytic effect of the composite material. When the gold nano-loading amount is 0.1%, it still has an excellent catalytic effect on the reduction reaction of 4-nitrophenol.