Mussel-inspired Functionalization of Cotton for Nano-catalyst Support and Its Application in a Fixed-bed System with High Performance

Abstract

Inspired by the composition of adhesive and reductive proteins secreted by marine mussels, polydopamine (PDA) was used to coat cotton microfiber (CMF), and then acted as reducing agent for the growth of Pd nanoparticles on PDA coated CMF (PDA@CMF) composites. The resultant CMF@PDA/Pd composites were then packed in a column for the further use in fixed-bed system. For the catalysis of the reduction of 4-nitrophenol, the flow rate of the 4-aminophenol solution (0.5 mM) was as high as 60 mL/min. The obtained fixed-bed system even exhibited superior performance to conventional batch reaction process because it greatly facilitated the efficiency of the catalytic fibers. Consequently, its turnover frequency (TOF) was up to 1.587 min−1, while the TOF in the conventional batch reaction was 0.643 min−1. The catalytic fibers also showed good recyclability, which can be recycled for nine successive cycles without a loss of activity. Furthermore, the catalytic system based on CMF@PDA/Pd can also be applied for Suzuki coupling reaction with the iodobenzene conversion up to 96.7%. The strategy to prepare CMF@PDA/Pd catalytic fixed bed was simple, economical and scalable, which can also be applied for coating different microfibers and loading other noble metal nanoparticles, was amenable for automated industrial processes.

Chemistry of polydopamine analogues

“…The starting PDA is modified in this transformation by oxidation of catechol units into o ‐quinone moieties (Scheme ). In this way, noble metals such as Au, Pt, Cu, Ag or Pd were deposited on PDA surfaces and could serve as catalysts or as antibacterial coatings.…”

Renewable Wood Pulp Paper Reactor with Hierarchical Micro/Nanopores for Continuous‐Flow Nanocatalysis

“…The TOF value (the amount of product obtained per unit time per unit amount of catalyst) of the AuNPs‐anchored paper reactor with micro/nanoscale pores reached 440 h −1 (Figure S5), which is superior to the TOF values of state‐of‐the‐art flow reactors that are based on inorganic and organic materials (Figure e; see also Table S1). In other words, the catalytic performance of the AuNP‐anchored paper reactor with micro/nanoscale pores was higher than those of various flow reactors based on Au nanowire‐anchored glass fibers (AuNWs@glass), AuNP‐anchored polyethersulfone hollow fiber membranes (AuNPs@PES), AuNP‐anchored polysulfone hollow fiber membranes (AuNPs@PS), AuNP‐anchored polycarbonate membranes (AuNPs@PC), and palladium nanoparticle‐anchored cotton fibers (PdNPs@cotton) . Paper is easy to handle and can be reused after the catalytic reaction; Zheng et al.…”

Ultrafine palladium nanoparticles supported on nitrogen-doped carbon microtubes as a high-performance organocatalyst

“…Thus, much effort has been focused on this strategy of anchoring ultrafine metal particles on various supports [17][18][19]. Recent studies demonstrate that nitrogen atoms in carbon materials can serve as the coordination sites for transition cations [20,21] and form a N-doped carbon-metal heterojunction [22].…”