Oxygen and nitrogen functionalized carbonaceous supports with improved nanoparticle dispersion, and methods of making and uses of the same

A method of making a solid-supported metal-catalyst, the method comprising:

• dispersing a carbonaceous support in water to form a suspension, the carbonaceous support having one or both of nitrogen-containing functional groups and oxygen-containing functional groups;
• mixing the suspension with one or more metal salts to form a metal salt-containing suspension;
• adding a solution comprising a reducing agent to the metal salt-containing suspension;
• and
• reducing, with the reducing agent, metal ions from the one or more metal salts to form metal nanoparticles.

A method of making a solid-supported metal-catalyst, the method comprising:

• dispersing a carbonaceous support in ethylene glycol to form a dispersion for a first period of time, the carbonaceous support having one or both of nitrogen-containing functional groups and oxygen-containing functional groups;
• mixing the dispersion for a second period of time to form a suspension, the second period of time being longer than the first period of time;
• adding a solution to the suspension, the solution comprising one or more metal salts and a solvent to form a metal salt-containing suspension;
• mixing the metal salt-containing suspension for a third period of time;
• adding a strong base to the metal salt-containing suspension to increase the basicity of the metal salt-containing suspension;
• and
• mixing the metal salt-containing suspension for a fourth period of time under reflux conditions to form metal nanoparticles from metal ions in the one or more metal salts.