Visible light photochemical synthesis of ultrasmall palladium/copper bimetallic particles at room temperature and its catalytic application in degradation of p-NP

Pt-based metals are very effective catalysts widely adopted in many fields. But the high cost prevents its further industrial application. One of the effective ways to solve the problem is to replace platinum with relatively cheap palladium and its alloy with copper. However, producing Pd/Cu bimetallic catalysts efficiently and economically with controllable particle size and uniform distribution is still challenging, especially when trying to reduce the consumption of precious metals. In this paper, ultrasmall palladium/copper (Pd/Cu) bimetallic catalysts with even dispersion were prepared on multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) by adding polyethylene glycol 400 (PEG 400) as a reducing agent and stabilizer under visible light irradiation at room temperature. The catalytic performance was studied in the catalysis of p-nitrophenol (p-NP) reduction. Of all the bimetallic catalysts produced in different conditions, the best one was obtained under the reaction condition of pH = 7 and violet light irradiation (wavelength 380-435 nm). The average particle size of 0.85 nm, and the apparent rate constant in the catalysis is 1.47 min-1. This research probes the role of visible light as a key kinetic controlling method in the formation of ultrasmall particles (UPs). It proves the effectiveness of using visible light irradiation as an effective and more "green chemistry" approach to get precious metal UPs as catalysts beyond the traditional ultraviolet or laser photochemistry methods.