Green Preparation of Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes-Supported Pd and Cu Nanoparticles with Novel Vic-dioxime Metal Complexes

Abstract

The preparation of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MW-CNTs) supported Cu and Pdnanoparticles utilizing a supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) deposition method were investigated. Novelvic-dioxime complexes of Cu(II) and Pd(II) were used as metallic precursors. The ligand used in theseprecursors was 4-(trifluoromethyl)aniline-vic-dioxide. Ligand and metal complexes were synthesized andidentified with various analysis methods including 1H and 19F NMR, FT-IR, UV-Vis, elemental analysis andmagnetic susceptibility. MW-CNTs supported Pd and Cu nanoparticles were characterized by high-resolutiontransmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy withEDX (SEM-EDX). SEM-EDX and HR-TEM micrographs showed a homogenous distribution of reasonably welldispersedCu and Pd nanoparticles on the support. The nature and crystallinity of the nano metal particleswere confirmed using XRD. Crystallite sizes ranged from 7-20 nm for palladium and 20-30 nm for copper.This study demonstrated that these oxime complexes are suitable precursors for the preparation ofsupported nanoparticles using a supercritical carbon dioxide deposition method.