Facile synthesis of size-controlled Ag supported on WO3 nanorods and their application as novel and active catalyst in oxidant-free dehydrogenation of benzyl alcohols

A new and simple strategy for the size-tunable synthesis of silver supported tungsten oxide nanoparticles (NPs) was reported. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) of molecular weights 400 and 4000 was used as surfactant to tune the size of nanoparticles. These as-synthesized Ag/WO3 nanomaterials were characterized by XRD, FT-IR, TGA, TEM, SEM, EDX, ICP-AES, XPS, and BET analysis. The material synthesized in the presence of PEG 4000 is similar to 10 nm metallic silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) supported on tungsten oxide (WO3) nanorods with diameters between 20 and 40 nm. These nanomaterials are very effective catalysts in oxidant-free dehydrogenation of benzyl alcohols.