Preparation of magnetically separable and low-cost MC-FePd3 NPs with enhanced catalytic activity in the reduction of p-nitrophenol

Abstract

Abstract To obtain a magnetically separable, low-cost and highly efficient reduction catalyst, microbial carbon-loaded bimetallic palladium/iron nanoparticles (MC-FePd3 NPs) were synthesized in this study by using waste yeast residue doped with iron during the preparation process of microbial carbon-loaded monometallic palladium nanoparticles (MC-Pd NPs). The morphology, crystal structure, magnetic properties and catalytic performance of MC-FePd3 NPs for the reduction of p-nitrophenol (p-NP) were investigated by various characterization techniques, such as SEM-EDS, TEM, XRD, PPMS-9 and UV–vis spectroscopy. The catalytic experiments showed that the MC-FePd3 NPs prepared under pyrolysis conditions at 700 °C had an apparent rate constant of 1.85 × 10−1 s−1 which is better than the rate constants of MC-Pd NPs and other palladium-based nanocatalytic materials reported so far. The amount of palladium used in the synthesis of MC-FePd3 NPs was half that of MC-Pd NPs. The catalyst exhibited soft magnetic ordering behavior and still showed a catalytic efficiency of 97.4% after five consecutive reaction cycles. Furthermore, employing MC-FePd3 NPs reduces the costs of catalyst preparation and use in production. MC-FePd3 NPs with efficient catalytic properties, facile magnetic separation and recyclability, and low costs of preparation and use have considerable potential for industrial applications.