Comprehensive Chemical Experiment from Scientific Research: Preparation of Silver Nanoparticles and Measurement of Its Catalytic Reaction Kinetics
LI Dong-Xiang**, ZHANG Xiao-Fang, WEI Qian-Ling, ZHANG Jing, XU Jie, LI Chun-Fang
College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, State Key Laboratory Base of Eco-chemical Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266042, China
Abstract A typical comprehensive chemical experiment was designed for undergraduates, in which metal nanoparticles were prepared by colloid chemistry method and were used to catalyze a redox reaction to study the reaction kinetics. First, sphere or flake-like silver nanoparticles with different size were prepared via seed-growth method and subsequently purified by centrifugation. Then, the purified silver samples were employed as heterogeneous catalysts in the reduction of 4-nitrophenol by sodium borohydride. Moreover, the catalytic reaction kinetics was investigated to analyze the apparent reaction rate constants and the activity of silver nanoparticle catalysts. This experiment can train the student ability for the preparation of nanomaterials and the process tracking of reaction kinetics, and also promote students to further understand the mechanism of heterogeneous catalysis and familiarize the operation of spectral instruments.
LI Dong-Xiang, ZHANG Xiao-Fang, WEI Qian-Ling, ZHANG Jing, XU Jie, LI Chun-Fang. Comprehensive Chemical Experiment from Scientific Research: Preparation of Silver Nanoparticles and Measurement of Its Catalytic Reaction Kinetics[J]. Chinese Journal of Chemical Education, 2020, 41(16): 49-54.
