Sustainable Synthesis of Ruthenium–Palladium-Based Nanonet Assembly for Efficient Reduction of 4-Nitrophenol and Nitrofurantoin
Pitchaimani Veerakumar, Arumugam Sangili, Shen‐Ming Chen, Naveen Karuppusamy
Abstract
Polyol techniques have recently emerged as viable soft chemical approaches for the production of ultrafine metal crystals. In this work, we described a simple method of ruthenium nanochains ornamented on an octahedral palladium (RuNCs@Oct-Pd) hybrid nanonet assembly synthesized by using polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP, stabilizing agent) and 1,2-propanediol (1,2-PD, reducing solvent). The prepared nanonet assembly plays a vital role for reduction of toxic nitro substances such as (4-nitrophenol, 4-NP) and hazardous antimicrobial agents (nitrofurantoin, NFT). The morphology of the nanonet assembly was tested by XRD, SEM, FE-TEM, XPS, and UV–vis spectral techniques. The RuNCs@Oct-Pd nanonet assembly demonstrates enhanced catalytic reduction of 4-NP and NFT using NaBH 4 (reductant) at ambient temperature. The RuNCs@Oct-Pd hybrid nanonet assembly exhibited a higher rate constant ( k app = 0.4332 s –1 ) and turnover frequency (TOF = 5.0 × 10 –2 s –1 ) than commercial catalysts like Ru/C and Pd/C because of substantial catalytic active sites, high surface-to-volume ratio, rapid surface-hydrogen transfer, and superior stability. Furthermore, the hybrid catalyst in this combination showed outstanding durability and reusability, making it suitable for real-world applications.