Facile and controllable synthesis of polystyrene/palladium nanoparticle@polypyrrole nanocomposite particles

Herein is reported a facile and controllable route for coating polystyrene (PS) particles with palladium nanoparticle@polypyrrole (PdNP@PPy) nanocomposites based on the “Swelling–Diffusion–Interfacial-Polymerization Method” (SDIPM). The formation of PdNP@PPy nanocomposites was achieved by using palladium chloride as the oxidant for pyrrole. The synthesized PS/PdNP@PPy nanocomposite particles were characterized extensively by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared and Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, thermogravimetry, and C, H, and N elemental microanalyses. Significantly, it is clearly found that highly dispersed PdNPs with small size are well embedded in the PPy shell. Moreover, the resultant PS/PdNP@PPy nanocomposite particles have a well-defined core/shell structure, and then the mass loading of PdNP@PPy nanocomposites on the surface of PS particles can be controlled simply by changing the weight ratio of pyrrole/PS. The synthesized PS/PdNP@PPy nanocomposite particles also show good catalytic activity and reusability in the reduction of p-nitrophenol by NaBH4.