dc.description.abstract | Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles immobilized on porous titania in micron-size range were decorated with small-sized gold nanoparticles and used as a plasmonic catalyst for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol. Monodisperse-porous magnetic titania microspheres were synthesized with bimodal pore-size distribution by the sol-gel templating method. Small-sized gold nanoparticles obtained by the Martin method were attached onto the aminated form of the magnetic titania microspheres. A significant enhancement in the catalytic activity was observed using the gold nanoparticle-decorated magnetic titania microspheres compared to gold nanoparticle-decorated magnetic silica microspheres because of the synergistic effect between small-sized gold nanoparticles and titania. The synergistic effect for gold nanoparticle-attached magnetic titania microspheres could be explained by surface plasmon resonance-induced transfer of hot electrons from gold nanoparticles to the conduction band of titania. Using the proposed catalyst, 4-nitrophenol could be converted to 4-aminophenol in an aqueous solution within 0.5 min. The 4-nitrophenol reduction rates were 2.5–79.3 times higher than those obtained with similar plasmonic catalysts. The selection of micron-size, magnetic, and porous titania microspheres as a support material for the immobilization of small-sized gold nanoparticles provided a recoverable plasmonic catalyst with high reduction ability. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]. © 2019, Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature. | en_US |
dc.contributor.department | Hamaloğlu, K.Ö., Chemical Engineering Department, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey -- Sağ, E., Chemical Engineering Department, Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, Turkey -- Kip, Ç., Chemical Engineering Department, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey -- Şenlik, E., Chemical Engineering Department, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey -- Kaya, B.S., Chemical Engineering Department, Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, Turkey -- Tuncel, A., Chemical Engineering Department, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey | en_US |