Mesoporous gold and palladium nanoleaves from liquid-liquid interface: enhanced catalytic activity of the palladium analogue toward hydrazine-assisted room-temperature 4-nitrophenol reduction.

The importance of an interfacial reaction to obtain mesoporous leafy nanostructures of gold and palladium has been reported. A new synthetic strategy involving 1,4-dihydropyridine ester (DHPE) as a potential reducing agent performs exceptionally well for the desired morphologies of both the noble metals at room temperature. The DHPE in turn transforms into its oxidized aromatic form. The as-synthesized gold leaves exhibit high surface-enhanced Raman scattering activity with rhodamine 6G (R6G) due to their hyperbranched structure. It is worthwhile that as-synthesized porous architectures of palladium support the room-temperature hydrogenation of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) by hydrazine hydrate (N2H4·H2O), reported for the first time. Furthermore, MPL exhibits exceptionally good catalytic activity toward electrooxidation of formic acid. Therefore, an aromaticity driven synthetic technique achieves a rationale to design leafy nanostructures of noble metals from the liquid-liquid interface for multifaceted applications.