Palladium is one
of the widely used precious metals toward catalysis,
energy, and environmental applications. Efficient recovery and reusability
of palladium from the spent catalysts is not only highly desirable
for sustainable industrial processing but also for preventing environmental
contamination. Here, we present a facile citrate-mediated amine functionalization
of alumina nanopowder (AO) in aqueous medium. The surface functionalization
is probed using infrared (IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS),
thermogravimetric analysis, surface area, and zeta potential measurements.
The amine-functionalized sorbent is thoroughly studied for its vital
palladium-sorption parameters such as amount of adsorbent, pH, adsorption
capacity, thermodynamics, and kinetics. The palladium adsorption over
amine-functionalized AO is further characterized with X-ray diffraction
and XPS. IR analysis of palladium adsorbed over polyethyleneimine
is performed to elucidate the mechanistic insight on the role of nitrogen
in capturing palladium. The amine-functionalized sorbent after adsorbing
palladium is studied for the catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol
and Cr(VI) and hydrogen generation from ammonia borane, which demonstrated
its excellent catalytic activity and reusability toward energy and
environmental applications. The environmentally benign materials and
all-aqueous reactions employed in this work demonstrate the potential
of the strategy for efficient and economical industrial transformations
and waste-stream management.