10.1166/jnn.2013.7578
The study synthesizes gallium nitride (GaN) nanostructures via chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and nitrogen-doped carbon spheres (NCSs) through a single-stage CVD process, with TEM analysis revealing rod-like GaN NSs with average diameters of 200 nm and solid NCSs with diameters of 450 nm. Palladium (Pd) nanoparticles (1% and 3% loadings) are uniformly dispersed on acid-functionalized GaN NSs and NCSs. The catalysts are tested for the selective hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde (CALD) in isopropanol at 40 and 60 °C under atmospheric pressure. Results show that the order of catalyst activity is 3% Pd/GaN > 3% Pd/NCSs > 1% Pd/NCSs > 1% Pd/GaN, with 1% Pd/GaN achieving 100% selectivity to hydrocinnamaldehyde (HCALD) at reasonable conversion rates. The study concludes that GaN NSs can be effectively used as support materials for Pd nanoparticles in hydrogenation reactions, offering better selectivity compared to NCSs.