Au nanoparticles assembled on palygorskite: Enhanced catalytic property and Au–Au2O3 coexistence

• Au nanoparticles were assembled on palygorskite to form nanocomposites.
• Au nanoparticles existed in the form of Au and Au2O3.
• Oxygen vacancy of Au2O3 was beneficial to the enhancement of catalytic property.
• Reaction rate of o-DCB showed second order with activation energy of −3.4 kJ/mol.

Au nanoparticles were assembled on palygorskite (PAL) to form Au/PAL nanocomposites via a deposition–precipitation method. Samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and gas chromatography (GC). Results indicated that Au nanoparticles, with a particle size of 2–7 nm, were uniformly immobilized on the surface of PAL with the coexistence of Au and Au2O3. Ortho-dichlorobenzene (o-DCB) was first fixed on Au2O3 then completely oxidized to CO2, H2O, HCl by metallic Au. The reaction rate of o-DCB was approximately second order with calculated activation energy of −3.4 kJ/mol, while the reaction order of O2 was zero order under sufficient oxygen. The catalytic activity could reach 99% at a Au/(Au + Au2O3) molar ratio of 0.83, three times of that without PAL support. Mechanism for enhanced catalytic activity under Au–Au2O3 coexistence system was discussed.

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