Size control and catalytic activity of highly dispersed Pd nanoparticles supported on porous glass beads

This paper presents a novel in situ method to prepare monodispersed palladium nanoparticles supported on porous glass beads with an egg-shell structure at room temperature. This method integrates two processes of ion exchange and reduction in one step just by changing the solvent from water to alcohol. The monodispersed Pd nanoparticles around 3.75 nm in diameter with a face-centered cubic structure have been successfully prepared. The adsorption capacity for palladium reached 55.00 ± 0.55 mg/g in ethanol, which was 26 times larger than that in water. These Pd nanoparticles supported on porous glass beads showed an excellent catalytic performance through the hydrogenation of cyclohexene. In addition, this in situ method was also successfully applied to prepare monodispersed silver and gold nanoparticles supported on porous glass beads. Overall, this facile method provided an alternative for preparing a supported nanoparticle catalyst in a green way.