Synthesis, characterization and catalytic activity of zinc oxide nanoparticles functionalized with metallo-thoiosemicarbazones

We report zinc oxide nanoparticles functionalized with  metallo-thoiosemicarbazones for the first time. The objective of the present work is to report the synthesis, characterization and catalytic activity of novel zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) functionalized with copper(II) and palladium(II) complexes of 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde thiosemicarbazone (BTSC) ligand. In the present study, as-synthesized ZnONPs and itspost-functionalized ZnONPs@Cu-BTSC and ZnONPs@Pd-BTSC were prepared and analyzed using UV-visible and FT-IR, PXRD, and SEM-EDX techniques. The X-ray diffraction pattern of ZnONPs showed intense peaks indexed to (1 0 0), (0 0 2), (1 0 1), (1 0 2), (1 1 0), (1 0 3) and (1 1 2) planes which corresponded to hexagonal wurtzite  phase of  zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles. The catalytic activity of ZnONPs, ZnONPs@Cu-BTSC, and ZnONPs@Pd-BTSC in reducing 4-nitrophenol was investigated. The ZnONPs@Pd-BTSC showed higher catalytic activity compared with that of the ZnONPs@Cu-BTSC.