Highly active gold and gold-palladium catalysts prepared by colloidal methods in the absence of polymer stabilizers

Catalytic properties and stability of Au nanoparticles are sensitive to factors such as the dimensions, shape and composition of the metal nanoparticles. Although colloidal methods provide an easy and quick way to synthesize supported metal catalysts, they typically involve using polymers such as polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) or polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as steric stabilizers, which can sometimes be detrimental in subsequent catalytic reactions. Here we report the synthesis of supported gold and gold-palladium nanoparticles without the addition of stabilizing polymers. The catalysts prepared with and without the addition of polymers performed very similarly in the selective oxidation of glycerol and benzyl alcohol suggesting that polymers are not essential to make active catalysts for these reactions. Thus, this new stabilizer free method provides a facile and highly effective way of circumventing the inherent problems of polymer stabilizers when preparing gold and gold palladium catalysts