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Phase-control synthesis and catalytic property of nickel phosphide nanospheres

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Abstract

In this article, a mild hydrothermal route was developed to synthesize nickel phosphide nanostructures, using nickel chloride, sodium hypophosphite, and white phosphorus (WP) as reactants at 170 °C. The results indicated that the controllable phase of the prepared nickel phosphide nanostructures was highly dependent on the amount of sodium hypophosphite, WP, and reaction time. We also discovered that different phase nickel phosphide nanostructures have excellent catalytic properties for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol (4-AP) in NaBH4. Simultaneously, similar aromatic nitro compounds 2-nitrophenol (2-NP) and 4-nitroaniline (4-NA) were further discussed. The experimental results demonstrated that the pure Ni2P phase has a better catalytic reduction of 4-NP than the pure Ni12P5 phase.

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Funding

This work was financially supported by the Anhui Provincial Project of Outstanding Young Talents Fund in Universities (No. gxyqZD2016342), Innovative Research Team of Anhui Provincial Education Department (No. 2016SCXPTTD), and Suzhou University professor research projects (No. 2017jb02).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Suzhou University, 49 Bianhe Road, Suzhou, 234000, People’s Republic of China

    Tao Geng, Hongyan Wang, Hao Wu & Shuangbin Zhang

  2. Key Laboratory of Spin Electron and Nanomaterials of Anhui Higher Education Institutes, Suzhou University, Suzhou, 234000, People’s Republic of China

    Tao Geng & Hongyan Wang

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  1. Tao Geng
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  2. Hongyan Wang
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  3. Hao Wu
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  4. Shuangbin Zhang
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Correspondence to Tao Geng.

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Geng, T., Wang, H., Wu, H. et al. Phase-control synthesis and catalytic property of nickel phosphide nanospheres. J Nanopart Res 22, 237 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-020-04962-z

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