Acta Phys. -Chim. Sin. ›› 2013, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (04): 785-791.doi: 10.3866/PKU.WHXB201302042

• CATALYSIS AND SURFACE SCIENCE • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Synthesis and Catalytic Activity of Silver Nanoparticles Immobilized onto Composite Microspheres

HAO Min-Min, LI Chen, YU Min, ZHANG Ying   

  1. Key Laboratory of Applied Surface and Colloid Chemistry, Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710062, P. R. China
  • Received:2012-10-22 Revised:2013-01-30 Published:2013-03-25
  • Supported by:

    The project was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21173141), Key Industry Project of Shaanxi Province, China (2011K08-14), Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University of China (IRT1070), and Undergraduate Innovative Program of Shaanxi Normal University, China (101071836).

Abstract:

P(NIPAM-co-AA) copolymer microgels with temperature and pH sensitivities were synthesized by copolymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) and acrylic acid (AA). Ag/P(NIPAM-co-AA) composite microspheres were prepared via in-situ reduction using ethanol as a reducing agent, based upon a polymer microgel template method. The morphology, composition, and catalytic properties of the prepared composite microspheres were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and UV-visible (UV-Vis) spectrophotometry. It was demonstrated that the Ag/P(NIPAM-co- AA) composite microspheres had an uneven surface structure. The confinement effect of the template microgels significantly improved the dispersion and stability of the loaded silver particles. In addition, the obtained composite materials exhibited good catalytic activity for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP). The observed catalytic activity was related to the swelling and shrinking behavior of the microgel network structure. The catalysis of 4-nitrophenol reduction was controlled by adjusting the thermo-sensitivity of the polymer template.

Key words: Polymer microgel, Nano-silver particle, Composite material, Catalysis, p-Nitrophenol