Save money during hydrogenation reactions by exploiting the superior performance of Pd-NPs deposited on carbon black by magnetron sputtering

The magnetron-sputtering approach was used for the deposition of small (ca. 3.7 nm) and uniformly distributed Pd(0)-fcc nanoparticles (Pd-NPs) with partially oxidised surfaces on commercially available carbon black. The pores of the support were uniformly filled by Pd-NPs, and the surface area was drastically reduced by blockage of the pores. The metal concentration increases with the augmentation of the sputtering time without changing the metal NP size. These Pd-nanocatalysts are high efficient for the hydrogenation of nitrobenzene to aniline (TOF up to 141.7 min(-1)), 1,3-cyclohexadiene to cyclohexene (TOF up to 24.0 s(-1)), and cyclohexene to cyclohexane (TOF up to 35.1 s(-1)) under 4 bar of dihydrogen (H-2) at mild temperatures (75-90 degrees C). The magnetron sputtering is one of the simplest, reliable, fast, clean and cheap methods for the preparation of Pd/C catalysts. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.