Efficient and green electrochemical synthesis of 4-aminophenol using porous Au micropillars

The development of new, efficient, chemoselective, and seemingly stable catalysts to rapidly convert 4-nitrophenol into 4-aminophenol, which is a particularly valuable chemical within multiple industries, is highly required. The use of non-toxic and non-corrosive chemicals for 4-aminophenol synthesi...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Tranchant, Maxime, Serrà i Ramos, Albert, Gunderson, Christopher, Bertero, Enrico, Garcia Amorós, Jaume, Gómez, Elvira, Michler, Johann, Philippe, Laetitia
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
OAI Identifier:oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/169352
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/169352
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Electrocatàlisi
Electroquímica
Electrocatalysis
Electrochemistry
Descripción
Sumario:The development of new, efficient, chemoselective, and seemingly stable catalysts to rapidly convert 4-nitrophenol into 4-aminophenol, which is a particularly valuable chemical within multiple industries, is highly required. The use of non-toxic and non-corrosive chemicals for 4-aminophenol synthesis presents further challenges. We show a simple and scalable shape-controlled electrodeposition using a dual-template method for the synthesis of well-defined porous Au micropillar array electrodes to enhance electrocatalyst stability, efficiency, and durability during the electroreduction of 4-nitrophenol. Consequently, we avoid the use of toxic and aggressive chemical reducing agents and minimize the production of residues. Surface areas up to 55.2 m2 g-1 are achieved, which represent a substantial improvement over non-architectured Au film electrodes. Porous Au micropillars exhibit excellent yields (̴100%), chemoselectivity (other byproducts are not detected), and a high kinetic constant of 2.5 × 10-2 min-1, which is impressively higher than those reported recently for Au thin films or Au-based electrocatalysts.