Size effect investigation of Palladium nanoparticles supported into Silica colloids as the catalyst for Suzuki cross coupling reaction

Palladium nanoparticles (Pd NPs) provide high activity in catalyzing Suzuki cross coupling reaction, which is the most versatile reaction for forming carbon-carbon bond, due to its high surface to area ratio. Silica colloids are used as the support for Pd NPs to provide heterogeneous catalysis for the reaction. Size factor is very important in the activity of the catalyst.;Four different sizes of Pd NPs stabilized by PVP are synthesized using seed-mediated growth method and supported onto silica colloids. Besides that, four different sizes of silica colloids were synthesized as the support of seed Pd NPs. All of the catalysts were used for Suzuki reaction of phenylboronic acid and iodobenzene. The size effect of the PdNPs supported by silica colloids was compared by comparing the turnover number (TOF) of each of the catalyst. We found out that the smaller the size of the Pd NPs, the higher the activity of the catalyst.