Highly dispersive Pd nanoparticles decorated strontium niobate nanosheets: Efficient and recyclable catalyst for base-free aerobic oxidation of benzyl alcohols in water

[Display omitted] •Pd nanoparticles were uniformly immobilized on strontium niobate nanosheets.•Pd-SNO shows high activity toward the selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol in water.•The catalyst can be reused for 5 times without obvious decrease of activity. 2D perovskite Sr2Nb3O10 (SNO) nanosheets were synthesized by cation exchange-assisted liquid exfoliation and applied as supports for the immobilization of palladium (Pd) nanoparticles through the electrostatic assembly with Pd(NH3)42+ precursors and successive in-situ photoreduction. Pd nanoparticles with an average diameter of 9.22 nm are uniformly dispersed on the surface of strontium niobate nanosheets. The obtained nanohybrid Pd-SNO could serve as an efficient heterogeneous catalyst for the atmospheric pressure oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde by using air as an oxidizing agent and water as the sole solvent at low temperature (80 °C). Furthermore, the catalyst could be easily separated from the reaction mixture by simple centrifugation and reused five times without significant degradation in catalytic activity under the investigated conditions. We believe that the synthetic strategy described in this work is a feasible means of developing effective noble metal/layered transition metal oxide hybrid catalysts for organic reactions.