Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Facile one-pot synthesis of cellulose nanocrystal-supported hollow CuFe2O4 nanoparticles as efficient catalyst for 4-nitrophenol reduction

  • Research Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Nanoparticle Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

    We’re sorry, something doesn't seem to be working properly.

    Please try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, please contact support so we can address the problem.

Abstract

A facile and efficient one-pot method for the synthesis of well-dispersed hollow CuFe2O4 nanoparticles (H-CuFe2O4 NPs) in the presence of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) as the support was described. Based on the one-pot solvothermal condition control, magnetic H-CuFe2O4 NPs were in-situ grown on the CNC surface uniformly. TEM images indicated good dispersity of H-CuFe2O4 NPs with uniform size of 300 nm. The catalytic activity of H-CuFe2O4/CNC was tested in the catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) in aqueous solution. Compared with most CNC-based ferrite catalysts, H-CuFe2O4/CNC catalyst exhibited an excellent catalytic activity toward the reduction of 4-NP. The catalytic performance of H-CuFe2O4/CNC catalyst was remarkably enhanced with the rate constant of 3.24 s−1 g−1, which was higher than H-CuFe2O4 NPs (0.50 s−1 g−1). The high catalytic activity was attributed to the introduction of CNC and the special hollow mesostructure of H-CuFe2O4 NPs. In addition, the H-CuFe2O4/CNC catalyst promised good conversion efficiency without significant decrease even after 10 cycles, confirming relatively high stability. Because of its environmental sustainability and magnetic separability, H-CuFe2O4/CNC catalyst was shown to indicate that the ferrite nanoparticles supported on CNC were acted as a promising catalyst and exhibited potential applications in numerous ferrite based catalytic reactions.

ᅟ

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Scheme 1
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Scheme 2
Fig. 10

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Chen R, Wang Q, Du Y, Xing WH, Xu NP (2009) Effect of initial solution apparent pH on nano-sized nickel catalysts in p-nitrophenol hydrogenation. Chem Eng J 145:371–376

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen GY, Yu HY, Zhang CH, Zhou Y, Yao JM (2016) A universal route for the simultaneous extraction and functionalization of cellulose nanocrystals from industrial and agricultural celluloses. J Nanopart Res 18:48–62

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chook SW, Yau SX, Chia CH, Chin SX, Zakaria S (2017) Carboxylated-nanoncellulose as a template for the synthesis of silver nanoprism. Appl Surf Sc 422:32–38

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dandia A, Jain AK, Sharma S (2013) CuFe2O4 nanoparticles as a highly efficient and magnetically recoverable catalyst for the synthesis of medicinally privileged spiropyrimidine scaffolds. RSC Adv 3:2924–2934

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Divya KP, Miroshnikov M, Dutta D, Vemula PK, Ajayan PM, John G (2016) In situ synthesis of metal nanoparticle embedded hybrid soft nanomaterials. Accounts Chem Res 49:1671–1680

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dong YY, Liu S, Liu YJ, Meng LY, Ma MG (2017) Ag@Fe3O4@cellulose nanocrystals nanocomposites: microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis, antimicrobial properties, and good adsorption of dye solution. J Mater Sci 52:1–12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feng J, Su L, Ma Y, Ren CL, Guo Q, Chen XG (2013) CuFe2O4 magnetic nanoparticles: a simple and efficient catalyst for the reduction of nitrophenol. Chem Eng J 221:16–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gazi S, Ananthakrishnan R (2011) Metal-free-photocatalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol by resin-supported dye under the visible irradiation. Appl Catal B Environ 105:317–325

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goyal A, Bansal S, Singhal S (2014) Facile reduction of nitrophenols: comparative catalytic efficiency of MFe2O4(M = Ni, Cu, Zn) nanoferrites. Int J Hydrogen Energ 39:4895–4908

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guo P, Cui L, Wang Y, Lv M, Wang BY, Zhao XS (2013) Facile synthesis of ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles with tunable magnetic and sensing properties. Langmuir 29:8997–9003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Han Y, Wu X, Zhang X, Zhou ZH, Lu CH (2016) Reductant-free synthesis of silver nanoparticles-doped cellulose microgels for catalyzing and product separation. ACS Sustain Chem Eng 4:6322–6331

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu Z, Meng Q, Liu R, Fu SY, Lucia LA (2017) Physical study of the primary and secondary photothermal events in gold/cellulose nanocrystals (AuNP/CNC) nanocomposites embedded in PVA matrices. ACS Sustain Chem Eng 5:1601–1609

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ibrahim I, Ali IO, Salama TM, Bahgat AA, Mohamed MM (2016) Synthesis of magnetically recyclable spinel ferrite (MFe2O4, M = Zn, Co, Mn) nanocrystals engineered by sol gel-hydrothermal technology: high catalytic performances for nitroarenes reduction. Appl Catal B Environ 181:389–402

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaushik M, Li AY, Hudson R, Masnadi M, Li CJ, Moores A (2016) Reversing aggregation: direct synthesis of nanocatalysts from bulk metal. Cellulose nanocrystals as active support to access efficient hydrogenation silver nanocatalysts. Green Chem 18:129–133

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koczkur KM, Mourdikoudis S, Polavarapu L, Skrabalak SE (2015) Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) in nanoparticle synthesis. Dalton T 44:17883–17905

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lai J, Niu W, Luque R, Xu GB (2015) Solvothermal synthesis of metal nanocrystals and their applications. Nano Today 10:240–267

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li Q, Li Y, Li X, Chen SL, Zhang SD, Wang JZ, Hou H (2014) A facile synthesis of superparamagnetic hybrid hollow nanospheres based on monodisperse nickel-zinc ferrite/polyethylene glycol and their electromagnetic, microwave absorbing properties. J Alloys Compd 608:35–43

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li Y, Shen J, Hu Y, Qiu SJ, Min GQ, Song ZT, Sun Z, Li CZ (2015) General flame approach to chainlike MFe2O4 spinel (M = Cu, Ni, Co, Zn) nanoaggregates for reduction of nitroaromatic compounds. Ind Eng Chem Res 54:9750–9757

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li R, Li Z, Wu Q, Li D, Shi J, Chen Y, Yu S, Ding T, Qiao C (2016) One-step synthesis of monodisperse AuNPs@ PANI composite nanospheres as recyclable catalysts for 4-nitrophenol reduction. J Nanopart Res 18:142–153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li Y, Xu L, Xu B, Mao ZP, Xu H, Zhong Y, Zhang LP, Wang BJ, Sui XF (2017) Cellulose sponge supported palladium nanoparticles as recyclable cross-coupling catalysts. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 9:17155–17162

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin X, Ji G, Liu Y, Huang Q, Yang Z, Du Y (2012) Formation mechanism and magnetic properties of hollow Fe3O4 nanospheres synthesized without any surfactant. Cryst Eng Commun 14:8658–8663

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu S, Yao K, Fu LH, Ma MG (2016) Selective synthesis of Fe3O4, γ-Fe2O3, and α-Fe2O3 using cellulose-based composites as precursors. RSC Adv 6:2135–2140

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ma MG, Zhu JF, Li SM, Jia N, Sun RC (2012) Nanocomposites of cellulose/iron oxide: influence of synthesis conditions on their morphological behavior and thermal stability. Mat Sci Eng C-Mater 32:1511–1517

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nasrollahzadeh M, Atarod M, Sajadi SM (2016a) Green synthesis of the Cu/Fe3O4 nanoparticles using Morinda morindoides leaf aqueous extract: a highly efficient magnetically separable catalyst for the reduction of organic dyes in aqueous medium at room temperature. Appl Surf Sci 364:636–644

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nasrollahzadeh M, Bagherzadeh M, Karimi H (2016b) Preparation, characterization and catalytic activity of CoFe2O4 nanoparticles as a magnetically recoverable catalyst for selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde and reduction of organic dyes. J Colloid Interf Sci 465:271–278

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nypelö T, Rodriguez-Abreu C, Rivas J, Dickey MD, Rojas OJ (2014) Magneto-responsive hybrid materials based on cellulose nanocrystals. Cellulose 21:2557–2566

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Polat K, Aksu ML, Pekel AT (2002) Electroreduction of nitrobenzene to p-aminophenol using voltammetric and semipilot scale preparative electrolysis techniques. J Appl Electrochem 32:217–223

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ren Y, Li S, Dai B, Huang XH (2014) Microwave absorption properties of cobalt ferrite-modified carbonized bacterial cellulose. Appl Surf Sci 311:1–4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ren Y, Lin L, Ma J, Yang J, Feng J, Fan ZJ (2015) Sulfate radicals induced from peroxymonosulfate by magnetic ferrospinel MFe2O4 (M = Co, Cu, Mn, and Zn) as heterogeneous catalysts in the water. Appl Catal B Environ 165:572–578

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Su L, Qin W, Zhang H, Rahman ZU, Ren CL, Ma SD, Chen SG (2015) The peroxidase/catalase-like activities of MFe2O4(M = Mg, Ni, Cu) MNPs and their application in colorimetric biosensing of glucose. Biosens Bioelectron 63:384–391

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taghavi F, Falamaki C, Shabanov A, Bayrami L, Roumianfar A (2011) Kinetic study of the hydrogenation of p-nitrophenol to p-aminophenol over micro-aggregates of nano-Ni2B catalyst particles. Appl Cataly A-Gen 407:173–180

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tang J, Sisler J, Grishkewich N, Tam KC (2017) Functionalization of cellulose nanocrystals for advanced applications. J Colloid Interf Sci 494:397–409

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tian C, Fu S, Lucia LA (2015) Magnetic Cu0.5Co0.5Fe2O4 ferrite nanoparticles immobilized in situ on the surfaces of cellulose nanocrystals. Cellulose 22:2571–2587

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Udupa HVK, Rao MV (1967) The electrolytic reduction of p-nitrophenol to p-aminophenol. Electrochim Acta 12:353–361

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wan C, Lu Y, Jiao Y, Jin CD, Sun QF, Li J (2015) Fabrication of hydrophobic, electrically conductive and flame-resistant carbon aerogels by pyrolysis of regenerated cellulose aerogels. Carbohydr Polym 118:115–118

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu Y, He Y, Wu T, Chen T, Weng WZ, Wan HL (2007) Influence of some parameters on the synthesis of nanosized NiO material by modified sol-gel method. Mater Lett 61:3174–3178

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu L, Xiao Q, Li Z, Lei GT, Zhang P, Wang L (2012) CoFe2O4/C composite fibers as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries with stable and high electrochemical performance. Solid State Ionics 215:24–28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu X, Lu C, Zhang W, Yuan GP, Xiong R, Zhang X (2013) A novel reagentless approach for synthesizing cellulose nanocrystal-supported palladium nanoparticles with enhanced catalytic performance. J Mater Chem A 1:8645–8652

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xiong R, Lu C, Wang Y, Zhou ZH, Zhang X (2013) Nanofibrillated cellulose as the support and reductant for the facile synthesis of Fe3O4/Ag nanocomposites with catalytic and antibacterial activity. J Mater Chem A 1:14910–14918

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xiong R, Wang Y, Zhang X, Lu CH, Lan L (2014) In-situ growth of gold nanoparticles on magnetic γ-Fe2O3@cellulose nanocomposites: a highly active and recyclable catalyst for reduction of 4-nitrophenol. RSC Adv 4:6454–6462

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xu S, Shen D, Wu P, Xu S, Shen D, Wu P (2013) Fabrication of water-repellent cellulose fiber coated with magnetic nanoparticles under supercritical carbon dioxide. J Nanopart Res 15:1–12

    Google Scholar 

  • Yan W, Chen C, Wang L, Zhang D, Li AJ, Yao Z, Shi LY (2016) Facile and green synthesis of cellulose nanocrystal-supported gold nanoparticles with superior catalytic activity. Carbohydr Polym 140:66–73

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zeynizadeh B, Mohammadzadeh I, Shokri Z, Hosseini SA (2017) Synthesis and characterization of NiFe2O4@Cu nanoparticles as a magnetically recoverable catalyst for reduction of nitroarenes to arylamines with NaBH4. J Colloid Interf Sci 500:285–293

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang W, Quan B, Lee C, Park SK, Li X, Choi E, Diao G, Piao Y (2015a) One-step facile solvothermal synthesis of copper ferrite-graphene composite as a high-performance supercapacitor material. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 7:2404–2414

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang H, Zhao Y, Liu W, Gao ST, Shang NZ, Wang C, Wang Z (2015b) Preparation of magnetically separable Cu6/7Co1/7Fe2O4-graphene catalyst and its application in selective reduction of nitroarenes. Catal Commun 59:161–165

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang X, Feng M, Qu R, Liu H, Wang L, Wang Z (2016) Catalytic degradation of diethyl phthalate in aqueous solution by persulfate activated with nano-scaled magnetic CuFe2O4/MWCNTs. Chem Eng J 301:1–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang D, Zhang G, Wang Q, Zhang L (2017) Dual-functional catalytic materials: magnetically hollow porous Ni-manganese oxides microspheres/cotton cellulose fiber. J Taiwan Inst Chem E 77:311–320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao Y, He G, Dai W, Chen H (2014) High catalytic activity in the phenol hydroxylation of magnetically separable CuFe2O4-reduced graphene oxide. Ind Eng Chem Res 53:12566–12574

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao P, Feng X, Huang D, Yang GY, Astruc D (2015) Basic concepts and recent advances in nitrophenol reduction by gold- and other transition metal nanoparticles. Coordin Chem Rev 287:114–136

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu M, Meng D, Wang C, Diao G (2013) Facile fabrication of hierarchically porous CuFe2O4 nanospheres with enhanced capacitance property. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 5:6030–6037

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This work was supported by the Foundation of Project for Innovative of Science and Technology of Shaanxi province (No. 2015KTCQ01-44) and the Guangxi Key Laboratory of Clean Pulping, Papermaking, and Pollution Control Opening Fund (KF 201711).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Bioresources Chemical and Materials Engineering, Shaanxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Papermaking Technology and Specialty Paper Development, Key Laboratory of Paper Based Functional Materials of China National Light Industry, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Light Chemistry Engineering Education, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi’an, 710021, China

    Sufeng Zhang, Dongyan Zhao, Chen Hou & Hao Li

  2. Key Laboratory of Clean Pulp & Papermaking and Pollution Control of Guangxi Province, Guangxi University, Nanning, 543003, China

    Chen Hou & Chen Liang

Authors
  1. Sufeng Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Dongyan Zhao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Chen Hou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Chen Liang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Hao Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Sufeng Zhang or Chen Hou.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Electronic supplementary material

ESM 1

(DOCX 361 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhang, S., Zhao, D., Hou, C. et al. Facile one-pot synthesis of cellulose nanocrystal-supported hollow CuFe2O4 nanoparticles as efficient catalyst for 4-nitrophenol reduction. J Nanopart Res 20, 161 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-018-4259-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-018-4259-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation