Abstract In this work, silver nanoparticle – polyvinylchloride (SNC-PVC) composites were synthesized by loading 2.5% to 10.0% silver ions to PVC using simple solution casting technique. Material properties including dielectric, thermal stability were discussed in some detail. Incorporation of silver nanoparticles (SNPs) in the PVC matrix was confirmed by UV-Visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM). FE-SEM confirms the shape of the SNPs are roughly spherical with average size of the SNPs in the range of 60 - 80 nm. The thermal degradation studies were analysed via sensitive graphical Broido’s method using Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The resulting SNC-PVC films, especially with 10% silver loading showed improved catalytic performance during the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol (4-AP) in the presence of aqueous sodium borohydride with apparent rate constant 1.956 × 10-3 sec-1 at ambient temperature.

Abstract The present paper discusses the aspects of synthesizing palladium (Pd) doped (Pd+2 and Pd0) poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) using simple solution cast technique. The Pd loading to PVC was altered from 2.5% to 10.0% and the material properties were studied using UV-Visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM). Thermal behavior of all the samples were studied using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and Broido’s method was employed to analyse the kinetic parameters involved in different degradation steps. All the composite films were sandwitched between disk shape gold electrodes; electrical contacts were established to study the dielectric properties. The influence of Pd loading on the dielectric properties of PVC were examined. Finally, the catalytic properties of Pd0 composites were studied using standard model reduction reaction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol (4-AP) in the presence of aqueous sodium borohydride and reported.