Carbon foam based microporous Pd(0) catalyst: the rapid and efficient reduction of organic pollutants

Abstract In the present work, we report the synthesis of a low-cost microporous sucrose-based carbon foam (ACF) with a specific surface area of 591.29 m ² /g, which was used as support for the preparation of a palladium-based (ACF-Pd) heterogeneous catalyst. The prepared ACF-Pd heterogeneous catalyst was characterized using BET, Raman, XPS, XRD, TEM, SEM and EDS methods. The catalytic reduction/decolorization capacity of microporous ACF-Pd was investigated for the reduction of various nitroarenes (2-nitroaniline, 4-nitroaniline, 4-nitrophenol and 4-nitro-o-phenylenediamine) and organic dyes (methyl orange, methylene blue and rhodamine B) by UV-Vis spectroscopy in an aqueous medium, with NaBH ₄ as the reducing agent at room temperature. The advantages of this method include short reaction times, mild reaction conditions, high yields, easy separation and excellent chemical stability of the catalyst due to its reusability. The results of the catalytic tests showed that the reduction/discoloration reactions of both nitro compounds and organic dyes were successfully carried out within 0–100 s, owing to the strong catalytic ability of ACF-Pd. Moreover, the catalytic reduction of 2-nitroaniline was carried out five times in consecutive run without both noticeable decrease in the catalytic and any change in the morphology of the catalyst, confirming that it is a sustainable and robust nano catalyst.