398447 Synthesis and Characterization of Palladium-Iron Nanoparticle Catalyst for the Conversion of Biomass
The increasing demand and dwindling reserve of fossil fuels and the associated environmental issues have motivated industry and society to search for reliable, renewable and clean energy. Accordingly, the conversion from non-food source lignocellulosic biomass into biofuels and valuable chemicals has attracted increasing research interest. In the conversion of biomass, the hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) reaction is a critical step and therefore requires high-performance catalyst to optimize its yield and selectivity.
In this work, we explored the controlled synthesis of Palladium-Iron (Pd-Fe) nanoparticles catalyst for the HDO reaction of phenol and cresol. We demonstrated synthesis of bimetallic Pd-Fe nanoparticles via a simultaneous chemical reduction approach. Specifically, we reduced iron chloride (FeCl3) and tetraaminepalladium nitrate (Pd(NH3)4(NO3)2) using sodium borohydride (NaBH4) as a reducing agent in the presence of polyacrylic acid (PAA) and polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) as capping agents. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern indicated an FCC structure with lattice constant larger than that of bulk Pd. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) indicated a multiply twinned bimetallic structure and the average crystallite size from XRD was of 4.6 nm as calculated using the Scherrer equation. Energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) showed narrow composition distribution with Fe:Pd ratio between 2.5 and 3.5.
This work developed a feasible and controlled approach to synthesize Pd-Fe nanoparticles that will provide us better understanding of the function of Pd-Fe nanoparticles in the HDO reaction and basis for further studies into designing more active and selective catalysts to optimize the conversion of biomass into biofuel and valuable chemicals.
See more of this Group/Topical: Student Poster Sessions