Lanthanum-Zinc Binary Oxide Nanocomposite with Promising Heterogeneous Catalysis Performance for the Active Conversion of 4-Nitrophenol Into 4-Aminophenol
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coatings Article Lanthanum-Zinc Binary Oxide Nanocomposite with Promising Heterogeneous Catalysis Performance for the Active Conversion of 4-Nitrophenol into 4-Aminophenol Ikram Ahmad 1, Muhammad Asghar Jamal 2,* , Miara Iftikhar 2, Awais Ahmad 3 , Shahid Hussain 4, Humaira Asghar 2, Muhammad Saeed 2 , Ammar Bin Yousaf 5, Rama Rao Karri 6,* , Nada Sulaymaniyah Al-kadhi 7, Mohamed Ouladsmane 8, Ayman Ghfar 8 and Safia Khan 9 1 Department of Chemistry, University of Sahiwal, Sahiwal 54000, Pakistan; [email protected] 2 Department of Chemistry, Government College University, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan; [email protected] (M.I.); [email protected] (H.A.); [email protected] (M.S.) 3 Department of Chemistry, The University of Lahore, Lahore 54590, Pakistan; [email protected] 4 School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China; [email protected] 5 Centre for Advanced Materials, Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar; [email protected] 6 Petroleum and Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Brunei, Mukim Gadong 1410, Brunei 7 Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia; [email protected] 8 Citation: Ahmad, I.; Jamal, M.A.; Advanced Materials Research Chair, Chemistry Department College of Science, King Saud University, Iftikhar, M.; Ahmad, A.; Hussain, S.; P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia; [email protected] (M.O.); [email protected] (A.G.) 9 Department of Chemistry, Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan; Asghar, H.; Saeed, M.; Yousaf, A.B.; safi[email protected] Karri, R.R.; Al-kadhi, N.S.; et al. * Correspondence: [email protected] (M.A.J.); [email protected] (R.R.K.) Lanthanum-Zinc Binary Oxide Nanocomposite with Promising Abstract: This work intended to enhance the unique and outstanding properties of lanthanum by Heterogeneous Catalysis Performance for the Active synthesizing its nanocomposite. A lanthanum-based nanocomposite was prepared by a simple Conversion of 4-Nitrophenol into and cost-effective “co-precipitation” method. Lanthanum nitrate (La (NO3)3) and zinc nitrate (Zn 4-Aminophenol. Coatings 2021, 11, (NO3)2) were used as precursors. The lanthanum/zinc oxide nano composite formed was then ◦ 537. https://doi.org/10.3390/ calcined at 450 C for 4 h in order to obtain a fine powder with size in the nano range of 1–100 nm. coatings11050537 Characterization of the prepared catalyst was done by ultraviolet/visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and photoluminescence. Crystallinity and morphology were found Academic Editors: Luca Valentini and by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The synthesized nanocomposite material Ioannis V. Yentekakis was also tested for heterogeneous catalytic applications of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) reduction into 4- aminophenol (4-AP). It was found to be successful in complete reduction of 4-NP with enhanced Received: 25 March 2021 catalytic performance. Accepted: 23 April 2021 Published: 30 April 2021 Keywords: nanocomposite structure; XRD; photoluminescence; rare earth element REE; heteroge- neous catalysis Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. 1. Introduction 4-aminophenol (p-aminophenol), an imperative intermediate in the manufacturing of multiple pharmaceutical products, mainly including phenacetin, acetanilide, and paracetamol, Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. also has numerous applications in anticorrosion, photography, and lubrication as a dyeing Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. agent [1,2]. Due to its increased demand by pharmacists, the direct catalytic conversion of This article is an open access article easily available 4-nitrophenol is the center of huge research [3,4]. Several reduction methods distributed under the terms and have been reported to date for conversion of 4-nitrophenol into 4-aminophenol [5–7]. The use conditions of the Creative Commons of precious metals for this catalytic reduction is frequently seen, e.g., Pt, Au, etc. [8,9], involving Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// hydrazine as a reducing agent. However, the discovery and development of more compatible, creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ ecofriendly, and efficient reduction catalysts for this specific reaction is still under research. 4.0/). Coatings 2021, 11, 537. https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings11050537 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/coatings Coatings 2021, 11, 537 2 of 12 Consequently, rare earth metal compounds are being considered by scientists across the globe for investigation of their catalytic performance. Over the last decade, rare earth metals with nanostructures of size 1–100 nm have been studied by researchers around the world. Owing to the presence of 4f orbital elec- trons, they have unique properties and offer promising applications in many fields. Their nanostructures are defenseless against compositional or structural effects [10–12]. The electrons in 4f shell orbitals of rare earth metals are continuously shielded by the electrons of 5p and 4 d; this feature plays an important role in the catalytic applications of these oxides [13]. The particle size and electronic configuration of metal oxides are interlinked, and the band gaps and energy excitation levels change when the particle size of the metal oxide is reduced [14]. Among nanostructured rare earth metal compounds, Lanthanum metal is an im- portant p-type semiconductor metal, used in numerous fields, such as solar cells [15,16], photocatalysis [17,18], photo detectors [19,20], sensors, light-emitting diodes [21,22], and laser communications [23,24]. Lanthanum oxides with metals is a perovskite type oxide i.e., its ABO3 type structure makes it special for catalytic applications [25,26]. In addition, Lanthanum metal oxide in powder form, with particle size in nano range of 1–100 nm, exhibits a lot of industrial properties as well. Lanthanum oxides are used in the synthesis of organic catalysts in the field of electrochemistry; it is used as an electrode, and the burning rate of propellants can also be enhanced by lanthanum oxide [27,28]. Moreover, zinc is an important transition metal, due to its feasibility and low cost, and researchers have extensively studied its oxides. Zinc oxide is a non-toxic, highly stable n- type semiconductor having a wide band gap (3.37 eV), which is an attractive feature because it can absorb sufficient amounts of UV light at room temperature [29–31]. Zinc oxides are used in several fields: in solar cells [32,33], super capacitors [34], field effect transistors [35], light-emitting materials [36,37], gas sensors [38], drug delivery [39]; as anticancer [40,41], antibacterial [42], diabetes treatment [43], bio- imaging [44], photocatalysts [45,46], base material for magnetic semiconductors [47], food additive [48], transparent UV- protection films [49,50], luminescence [51,52], solar energy conversion [53], etc. Zinc oxides are also used in care products like sunscreen and cosmetics, as they can strongly absorb UV light [54,55]. Additionally, the properties of metals can be enhanced in combination with another metal i.e., transition metal. The combination of metal oxides as nanocomposite, hence, increase interactions and effectiveness [56]. Various methods have been reported for the synthesis of nanocomposites, such as the sol-gel method [57,58], chemical vapor deposition (CVD) [59], hydrothermal methods [60], and the solid state method [61]. Among all preparation methods, co-precipitation is the easiest and most cost-effective method, and no special or complicated material and equipment is required [62]. In this work, the reduction of 4-nitrophenol using aqueous NaOH as a reducing agent in the presence of an La2ZnO4 catalyst could be a substitute for conservative reduction processes. Up till now, no work has done on the direct combination of Lanthanum and Zinc metals in the form of a combined oxide. Thus, in the present work, we report the synthesis of Lanthanum Zinc oxide nanocomposite La2ZnO4 through a simple co- precipitation method, keeping in mind the properties of Lanthanum and Zinc. The prepared nanocomposite was characterized by many useful techniques, i.e., FTIR Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, ultraviolet spectroscopy, XRD X-ray diffraction, SEM scanning electron microscopy, and PL photoluminescence. Herein, 4-nitrophenol was reduced to 4-aminophenol in the presence of the La2ZnO4 composite applying aq. NaOH as a reducing agent. This scheme did not involve a specific solvent and was established at room temperature. Hence, the current method offers an eco-friendly route for the catalytic hydrogenation of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol. Coatings 2021, 11, 537 3 of 12 2. Materials and Methods 2.1. Materials Lanthanum nitrate hexahydrate (La(NO3)3·6H2O) (99.99% pure), zinc nitrate hexahy- drate (Zn(NO3)2·6H2O) (99% pure), sodium hydroxide anhydrous pellets (NaOH) (98% pure), and methanol (CH3OH) (99.8%) were purchased from Sigma Aldrich and used as received without any further purification treatment. All chemicals, including deionized water (DI) used during the experiment, were of analytical reagent grade. 2.2. Synthesis of La2ZnO4 The process of synthesizing the La2ZnO4 nanocomposite, was followed according to the work reported by Tinwala et al. [63]. The La2ZnO4 nanocomposite was synthesized via the co-precipitation method, using the precursors lanthanum nitrate