ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

The effect of oxidation pretreatment of polymer template on the formation and catalytic activity of Au/PET membrane composites

Ilya V. Korolkov, Daryn B. Borgekov, Anastassiya A. Mashentseva, Olgun Güven, Ayse Bakar Atıcı, Artem L. Kozlovskiy, and Maxim V. Zdorovets

The Institute of Nuclear Physics, Almaty, Kazakhstan

E-mail: korolkovelf@gmail.com

Abstract: This paper reports on the synthesis and structure elucidation of the track-etched membranes with embedded gold nanotubes (prepared in etched-only and COOH-enriched PET track-etched membranes) as well as comparative testing of the catalytic activity of prepared composites. The carboxylic group functionality was enriched by successive oxidation by hydrogen peroxide and UV. “As-prepared” and oxidized membrane composites were examined for catalytic activity using reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) by NaBH₄. The catalytic activity of Au/PET-Ox composite was found to be 23% more effective than Au/PET-Etch composites. Nanocomposites were also investigated by XRD, XPS and SEM techniques.

Keywords: Track-etched membranes; Gold composites; Polyethylene terephthalate; Catalysis; Electroless deposition

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-017-0229-1

Chemical Papers 71 (12) 2353–2358 (2017)