Zirconium(IV) tungstate nanoparticles prepared through chemical co-precipitation method and its function as solid acid catalyst

Manoj Sadanandan,Beena Bhaskaran

doi:10.1007/s13204-013-0252-7

Abstract

In this paper, we report the synthesis of zirconium(IV) tungstate nanoparticles, a new and efficient catalyst for the oxidation of benzyl alcohol and esterification of acetic acid with various alcohols. The nanoparticle catalyst was prepared using the room temperature chemical co-precipitation method. The catalyst was characterized with thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis, elemental analysis, X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area. The crystallite size was found to be ~20 nm as revealed by XRD, HRTEM and AFM. The Na+ exchange capacity was found to be 2.76 meq g−1 and the surface area of the compound measured using BET method was found to be 250–265 m2 g−1. The high value of ion exchange capacity indicates the presence of surface hydroxyl groups. The prepared nanoparticles have proven to be excellent catalysts for both oxidation and ester synthesis under mild reaction conditions. The mechanism of the catalytic reaction was studied as well.

Highlights

Over the past few decades, researchers all over the world were interested in the studies of nanomaterials and their applications have been increasing because of their very different properties at the nanoscale level as compared with those at the macro level
In this paper, we report the synthesis of zirconium(IV) tungstate nanoparticles, a new and efficient catalyst for the oxidation of benzyl alcohol and esterification of acetic acid with various alcohols
We report the synthesis of zirconium(IV) tungstate nanoparticles and its function as catalysts in oxidation and esterification reactions

Summary

Introduction

Over the past few decades, researchers all over the world were interested in the studies of nanomaterials and their applications have been increasing because of their very different properties at the nanoscale level as compared with those at the macro level. Oxidative catalytic conversion of organic compounds like benzyl alcohol with environmentally clean oxidants such as molecular oxygen or hydrogen peroxide has increased attention because they produce only water as a byproduct. These oxidations require an efficient catalyst (Jamwal et al 2011; Mardur and Gokavi 2010). Ions of the -OH groups makes these materials good Bronsted acid catalysts These materials have been widely studied as catalysts in the amorphous and crystalline forms (Jignasa et al 2006; Sumej and Raveendran 2008; Patel et al 2005; Roy et al 2002). We report the synthesis of zirconium(IV) tungstate nanoparticles and its function as catalysts in oxidation and esterification reactions

Materials and methods

Results and discussion

Conclusion