Ag-Ni alloy nanoparticles for electrocatalytic reduction of benzyl chloride
(1. State Key Laboratory for Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China;
2. College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China)
2. College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China)
Abstract: Ag-based nanocatalysts exhibit good catalytic activity for the electrochemical reduction of organic halides. Ag-Ni alloy nanoparticles (NPs) were facilely prepared by chemical reduction, and the as-prepared nanocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The electrocatalytic activity of Ag-Ni NPs for benzyl chloride reduction was studied in organic medium using cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The results show that the addition of Ni element can obviously decrease the size of Ag-Ni NPs, shift the reduction peak potential (φp) of benzyl chloride positively, and increase the catalytic activity of Ag-Ni NPs. However, when the Ni content reaches a certain value, the catalytic activity of Ag-Ni NPs decreases. Meanwhile, the synergistic catalytic effect of Ag-Ni NPs was also discussed.
Key words: Ag-Ni nanoparticles; benzyl chloride; synergistic catalytic effect; electroreduction