Ruthenium Nanoparticles Supported on Reduced Graphene Oxide: Efficient Catalyst for the Catalytic Reduction of Cr(VI) in the Presence of Amine-Boranes

Hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) is a toxic, mutagen and carcinogen contaminant exist in surface and groundwater, while its reduced form trivalent chromium (Cr(III)) is known as an essential element to normal carbohydrate, lipid and protein metabolism in nature. Addressed herein, for the first time, ruthenium nanoparticles supported on reduced graphene oxide (Ru@rGO) catalyze the reduction of aqueous Cr(VI) to Cr(III) in the presence of amine-boranes; ammonia-borane (AB; NH3BH3), methylamine-borane (MeAB; CH3NH2BH3), dimethylamine-borane (DMAB; (CH3)(2)NHBH3) as reducing agents under mild conditions (at room temperature and under air). Ru@rGO catalyst was reproducibly fabricated through a double-solvent method followed by wet-chemical reduction and characterized by using various spectroscopic and visualization techniques, which showed that the formation of well-dispersed and highly crystalline ruthenium(0) nanoparticles with a mean particle size of 2.7 +/- 0.9 nm on the surface of rGO. The catalytic performance of Ru@rGO was investigated in terms of activity and stability in the ammonia-borane assisted reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III), and the sum of the results gained from these catalytic tests revealed that Ru@rGO acts as both active (TOF=7.6 mol Cr2O72-/mol Ru.min) and stable (80% of its initial activity at 90% conversion at 5(th)reuse) heterogeneous catalyst in this significant catalytic transformation. This study also reports kinetic studies for Ru@rGO catalyzed Cr(VI) reduction in the presence of ammonia-borane depending on ruthenium ([Ru]), ammonia-borane ([AB]) concentrations and temperature to shed some light on the nature of the catalytic reaction and activation parameters.