Issue 18, 2017

Decoration of Pd and Pt nanoparticles on a carbon nitride (C3N4) surface for nitro-compounds reduction and hydrogen evolution reaction

Abstract

Herein, we propose the synthesis of Pd and Pt monometallic nanoparticles on a carbon nitride (C3N4) surface for the reduction of nitro compounds as well as for electrocatalysis. For the synthesis of C3N4/Pd and C3N4/Pt, metal ions were initially adsorbed on the C3N4 surface and then subsequently reduced by NaBH4. The as-synthesized heterostructures were authenticated by different characterization techniques: UV-vis, PXRD, XPS, TEM, FESEM, and EDS. Decorations of monometallic NPs on C3N4 not only improved the reduction efficiency of nitro-compounds but also enhanced the electrocatalytic activity in the hydrogen evolution reaction. C3N4/Pt proved to be an efficient electrocatalyst as it requires a potential of −0.339 V to attain a current density of 10 mA cm−2; whereas, C3N4/Pd requires −0.371 V to reach a current density of 10 mA cm−2vs. Ag/AgCl. Both C3N4/Pd and Pt heterostructures are better than bare C3N4, which needs −0.596 V to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm−2vs. Ag/AgCl. On the other hand, C3N4/Pd showed a better performance in nitro-compound reduction compared to C3N4/Pt and bare C3N4. The kinetic study reveals that the rate constant using a C3N4/Pd catalyst is 6.7 × 10−1 min−1 for p-nitroaniline reduction, which is 101 times higher compared to bare C3N4 and 4.7 times higher in comparison to C3N4/Pt.

Graphical abstract: Decoration of Pd and Pt nanoparticles on a carbon nitride (C3N4) surface for nitro-compounds reduction and hydrogen evolution reaction

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
19 Apr 2017
Accepted
24 Jul 2017
First published
24 Jul 2017

New J. Chem., 2017,41, 9658-9667

Decoration of Pd and Pt nanoparticles on a carbon nitride (C3N4) surface for nitro-compounds reduction and hydrogen evolution reaction

R. Nazir, P. Fageria, M. Basu, S. Gangopadhyay and S. Pande, New J. Chem., 2017, 41, 9658 DOI: 10.1039/C7NJ01221G

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