Síntese de nanopartículas anisotrópicas de ouro e sua avaliação como catalisadores na redução química do p-nitrofenol

Abstract

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have constantly attracted the attention of the scientific and industrial community due to the variety of physicochemical properties presented which are different and considered new properties from those that are evidenced in their mass form. Those new properties are strongly related to their morphology, providing a wide range of possible applications in several areas such as optics, medicine and catalysis. As well known, nanoparticles are thermodynamically unstable and consequently they have an easy tendency to agglomarate. In this context, the synthesis of nanoparticles in a general procedure, in particular the metallic ones, and more particularly the gold ones, need synthesis strategies with adequate growth control in the dynamics formation. Therefore, it becomes a constant challenge to obtain nanostructured materials with high yields and degree of selectivity. Among the various preparation methodologies, the seed-mediated method, seeding, is most commonly used, classically in the presence of Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTABr) as a growth-driving agent. The obtained AuNPs were characterized by Visible Ultraviolet Absorption Spectroscopy (UV-vis) and Electron Transmission Microscopy (MET). These nanoparticles were evaluated in catalytic tests in chemical reduction reactions of p-Nitrophenol, where we investigated the influence of different reaction conditions such as the concentration of the catalyst, the reducing agent, and the optimum concentration and temperature variation. Surfactants were characterized by Ultraviolet Absorption Spectroscopy (UV-vis). Among the catalytic tests, the concentration of the reductant (NaBH4) was decreased from 0.1 mol L-1 to 0.05 mol L-1, 0.025 mol L-1 and 0.0025 mol L-1, between these concentrations, the molar ratio of the substrate/reductant was decreased from 500 to 12.5. The lowest borohydride concentration, 0.0025 mol L-1, gives a longer time to 100% conversion of p-nitrophenol, thus conducting studies varying the temperature of the system, in order to optimize the conversion time. herefore, the reaction was evaluated at temperatures of 25, 35, 45 and 55 °C, observing that with the increase of temperature, the reaction time of the reaction decreased. The reactions had a kinetic profile of pseudo-first order, so the apparent velocity constant was calculated for each reaction and it was observed that the reactions catalyzed by gold nanobastones (AuNRs) had a higher rate constant when compared to gold nanospheres (AuNSs). Finally, the activation energy (Ea) of the system was calculated, where Ea for reactions catalyzed by AuNRs was 70.5 kJ mol-1 and AuNSs obtained 105 kJ mol-1.