Sustainable Fabrication of Palladium Nanoparticles Using Stevia Rebaudiana Tea and Its Catalytic Activity

Abstract

Recently, sustainable synthetic processes developed during the fabrication of noble metal nanoparticles have experienced much progress because their novel optical, catalytic, sensing and electrochemical properties can be tuned by controlling their shapes and sizes. In this work, spherical palladium nanoparticles (PdNPs) were fabricated using stevia rebaudiana tea as a reducing and stabilizing material. This method can reduce the need for toxic chemicals, reduces cost, and eliminates steps in the synthesis procedure, thus making it environmentally benign. The grown PdNPs was studied using UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy showed the presence of functional groups of phyto-organicmoieties, which are responsible for coating PdNPs and preventing agglomeration. Morphology, distribution and size of the nanoparticles were estimated using FE-SEM and TEM studies. The crystalline purity of the synthesized PdNPs was investigated through X-ray diffraction (XRD) and small area electron diffraction (SAED) analysis. The obtained XRD pattern was compared with JCPDS data. Catalytic characteristics of PdNPs for reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol in the presence of NaBH4 were studied.