Aqueous-phase catalytic chemical reduction of p-nitrophenol employing soluble gold nanoparticles with different shapes

Abstract

Gold nanoparticles with different shapes were prepared and used as catalysts in the reduction of p-nitrophenol (PNP) in the aqueous phase and in the presence of sodium borohydride (NaBH4). Parameters such as the reaction temperature, substrate/NaBH4 molar ratio, and substrate/gold molar ratio were tested and evaluated. In this paper, we compare the catalytic reactivities of gold nanorods (AuNRs) and gold nanospheres (AuNSs), both synthesized by the seed-mediated method in the presence of cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB). Physical-chemical parameters such as the apparent rate constant (kapp) and activation energy (Ea) of the reactions were obtained for both systems. We observed that the catalytic system based on AuNRs is the most active. These colloidal dispersions were investigated and fully characterized by ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy (UV-Vis) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM).