Highly stable ruthenium nanoparticles on 3D mesoporous carbon: an excellent opportunity for reduction reactions

Abstract

Carbon mesoporous materials (CPMs) have great potential in the field of heterogeneous catalysis. Highly dispersed ruthenium nanoparticles (RuNPs) embedded in three dimensional (3D) CPMs as catalysts with a high surface area (1474 m² g⁻¹) were prepared by microwave-thermal reduction processes. Characterization technologies including X-ray diffraction (XRD), N₂ adsorption/desorption isotherm measurements, field emission transmission electron microscopy (FE-TEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), hydrogen temperature-programmed reduction (H₂-TPR), Raman spectroscopy and ¹³C solid state cross polarization and magic angle spinning (¹³C CP/MAS) NMR spectroscopy were utilized to scrutinize the catalysts. It was revealed that the Ru/CPM catalysts exhibited a highly ordered 3D mesoporous structure and a large surface area and were widely used as catalysts for reduction reactions. Reduction of p-nitroaniline (p-NA) and crystal violet (CV) using NaBH₄ with the use of this catalyst was studied by means of UV-vis spectroscopy. Here, NaBH₄ acts as a hydrogen donor. This catalyst shows an excellent catalytic activity towards reduction of p-NA and CV dye at room temperature. Due to the promising properties of CPMs, they can be utilized to fabricate 3D carbon-based materials for a variety of novel applications.