Size dependent catalysis with CTAB-stabilized gold nanoparticlesDedicated to Prof. Dr. Ludger Wöste on the occasion of his 65th birthday

• Main Authors: Fenger, R, Fertitta, E, Kirmse, H, Thünemann, A. F, Rademann, K
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1463-9076; 1463-9084
• DOI: 10.1039/c2cp40792b

CTAB-stabilized gold nanoparticles were synthesized by applying the seeding-growth approach in order to gain information about the size dependence of the catalytic reduction of p -nitrophenol to p -aminophenol with sodium borohydride. Five different colloidal solutions of stabilized gold nanoparticles have been characterized by TEM, AFM, UV-Vis, SAXS, and DLS for their particle size distributions. Gold nanoparticles (mean sizes: 3.5, 10, 13, 28, 56 nm diameter) were tested for their catalytic efficiency. Kinetic data were acquired by UV-Vis spectroscopy at different temperatures between 25 and 45 °C. By studying the p -nitrophenol to p -aminophenol reaction kinetics we determined the nanoparticle size which is needed to gain the fastest conversion under ambient conditions in the liquid phase. Unexpectedly, CTAB-stabilized gold nanoparticles with a diameter of 13 nm are most efficient. Catalysis by gold: surprisingly high activity for 13 nm nanoparticles.