Plasma synthesis of nitrogen-doped porous graphene supporting Pd nanoparticles as a new catalyst for C-C coupling reactions

We report an environmentally-friendly approach to the synthesis of hybrids based on porous graphene and metal nanoparticles. The nitrogen-doped porous graphene (N-PG) and Pd nanoparticles decorated N-PG (Pd/N-PG) was synthesized by a plasma method. The N-PG was characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy, and the results clearly indicate that the amount of nitrogen doping was 6.65 wt%. The synthesized Pd/N-PG hybrid materials were confirmed by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy mapping. The hybrid material based on Pd/N-PG as a new catalyst was applied in Suzuki reaction. This catalyst offers a number of advantages such as high stability, easy removal from the reaction mixture and reusability with minimal loss of activity, showing better performance than the well-known commercial Pd/C catalyst.