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Well dispersive Ni nanoparticles embedded in core-shell supports as efficient catalysts for 4-nitrophenol reduction

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Abstract

In this report, we have prepared a magnetic catalyst with well-dispersed Ni nanoparticles embedded in SiO2@C core-shell materials. A resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) resin layer containing Ni source was in situ grown on the SiO2 spheres through polymerization process. The Ni species and RF layer in the precursor simultaneously were transformed into Ni nanoparticles and carbon layer through the heat treatment. The loading mass and size of Ni nanoparticles can be adjusted by changing the additional amount of Ni source, which can provide efficient active sites and control the catalytic reduction of 4-NP. As-prepared SCN-3 with the higher density dispersion revealed better catalytic activity than other catalysts in terms of shorter induction time (70 s) and higher mass-normalized rate constant (261.44 s−1 mg−1). Moreover, SiO2@C/Ni nanocomposite provided an excellent catalytic efficiency with no obvious deactivation (~ 100%) over the 5 cycles.

A magnetic catalyst has been effectively synthesized with well-dispersed Ni nanoparticles embedded in SiO2@C supports, which processes excellent catalytic activity and reusability for reduction of 4-nitrophenol.

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Funding

Financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC 51602289) and the Outstanding Young Talent Research Fund of Zhengzhou University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physics and Engineering, Key Laboratory of Material Physics of Ministry of Education, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaoshan Yang, Zhenwei Wang, Yuanyuan Shang, Yingjiu Zhang, Qing Lou & Jie Xu

  2. School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, People’s Republic of China

    Baojun Li

Authors
  1. Xiaoshan Yang
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  2. Zhenwei Wang
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  3. Yuanyuan Shang
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  4. Yingjiu Zhang
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  5. Qing Lou
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  6. Baojun Li
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  7. Jie Xu
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Contributions

J.X. conceived and designed the experiments; X.Y. and Z.W. performed the experiments; Y.Z., and Y.S. analyzed the data; Q.L. analyzed the data during the revised process; B.L. and X.J. wrote and revised the paper.

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Correspondence to Jie Xu.

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Yang, X., Wang, Z., Shang, Y. et al. Well dispersive Ni nanoparticles embedded in core-shell supports as efficient catalysts for 4-nitrophenol reduction. J Nanopart Res 21, 120 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-019-4551-0

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