Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
8
Recent Developments in Gold
Nanomaterial Catalysts for
Oxidation Reaction through Green
and Sustainable Routes
Biswajit Chowdhury*, Chiranjit Santra, Sandip Mandal and Rawesh Kumar
Department of Applied Chemistry, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, India
Abstract
h e breakthrough discovery of gold nanoparticles as a catalyst towards various
chemical reactions has opened a new horizon in surface science. Among the dif-
ferent reactions, oxidation reactions have demanded special attention as selective
oxidation of organic compounds is an important technique for conversion of bio-
mass to useful i ne chemical substances. Oxidation by molecular O
2
is a greener
route for producing oxygenates, improving the atom economy of the process. It is
found that 2-5 nm-sized gold nanoparticles can participate as catalyst for many
important reactions, e.g., propylene epoxidation, CO oxidation, alcohol oxidation,
glucose oxidation, etc. An extensive study encompasses the fact that the nature of
support controls the activity of gold nanoparticles. Among dif erent oxide sup-
ports, the mesoporous silicious and non-silicious oxides demonstrated high cata-
lytic activity of gold nanoparticles in the oxidation reaction. During the course
of research and development in the liquid-phase reaction, the supports of inter-
est have shit ed from activated carbon and metal oxides to organic polymers as
a stabilizing agent or a solid support for gold nanoparticles. While investigating
the reaction mechanism it is found that gold nanoclusters act as primary active
sites as well as secondary sites depending on the nature of support, type of reac-
tion and reaction condition. h e development of mesoporous mixed oxide mate-
rial triggered its use as a support matrix not only because of its thermal stability
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