Dehydrogenation of Formic Acid in Liquid Phase over Pd Nanoparticles Supported on Reduced Graphene Oxide Sheets

Reduced graphene oxide sheets (rGO) were used in this study to support Pd nanoparticles through soil-immobilization and impregnation methods. The catalysts were characterised using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Raman spectroscopy. These nanocatalysts were used as catalysts for the dehydrogenation of formic acid in liquid phase. The results showed that the Pd/rGO samples synthesised via the sol-immobilisation technique exhibited better catalytic activity (TOF = 910 h(-1)) than those synthesised by the impregnation technique (TOF = 506 h(-1)) because of the smaller size of Pd particles and higher Pd exposure of the catalysts synthesised by the first technique. The experimental outcomes showed that the graphene sheets provided remarkable support for Pd nanoparticles.