Integrating photothermal and plasmonic catalysis induced by near-infrared light for efficient reduction of 4-nitrophenol

• Main Authors: Li, Xiangming, Sun, Bo, Chen, Qingpeng, Lee, Hiang Kwee, Shi, Bo, Ren, Hegang, Li, Haitao, Ma, Zequn, Fu, Meng
• Other Authors: School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2024
• Subjects: Chemistry; Plasmonic photothermal catalysis; Near-infrared light
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/174670
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) into 4-aminophenol (4-AP) is an important reaction in both chemical manufacturing and environmental protection. The design of a highly active, multifunctional and reusable catalyst for efficient 4-NP decontamination/valorization is therefore crucial to bring in economic and societal benefits. Herein, we achieve an efficient plasmonic-photothermal catalyst of Pd nanoparticles by growing them on graphene-polyelectrolytes self-assembly nanolayers via an in situ green reduction approach using polyelectrolyte as the reductant. The as-fabricated catalyst shows high catalytic behaviors and good stability (maintained over 92.5 % conversion efficiency after ten successive cycles) for 4-NP reduction under ultra-low catalyst dose. The rate constant and turnover frequency were calculated at 0.197 min-1 and 7.79 mmol g-1 min-1, respectively, which were much higher than those of most reported catalysts. Moreover, the as-prepared catalyst exhibited excellent photothermal conversion efficiency of ∼77 % and boosted 4-NP reduction by ∼2-fold under near-infrared irradiation (NIR). This study provides valuable insights into the design of greener catalytic materials and facilitates the development of multifunctional plasmonic-photothermal catalysts for diverse environmental, chemical, and energy applications using NIR.