Reduction of Nitroaromatics by Gold Nanoparticles on Porous Silicon Fabricated Using Metal-Assisted Chemical Etching

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the use of porous silicon (PSi) fabricated using metal-assisted chemical etching (MACE) as a substrate for the deposition of Au nanoparticles (NPs) for the reduction of nitroaromatic compounds. PSi provides a high surface area for the deposition of Au NPs, and MACE allows for the fabrication of a well-defined porous structure in a single step. We used the reduction of p-nitroaniline as a model reaction to evaluate the catalytic activity of Au NPs on PSi. The results indicate that the Au NPs on the PSi exhibited excellent catalytic activity, which was affected by the etching time. Overall, our results highlighted the potential of PSi fabricated using MACE as a substrate for the deposition of metal NPs for catalytic applications.

Keywords

• porous silicon
• metal-assisted chemical etching
• gold nanoparticle
• catalyst
• nitroaromatic
• <i>p</i>-nitroaniline