Preparation of mesoporous TiO2–C composites as an advanced Ni catalyst support for reduction of 4-nitrophenol†
Abstract
To overcome the aggregation and recovery problems and regulate the electronic and chemical properties of Ni nanoparticle catalysts, ordered mesoporous TiO2–C composites have been designed and synthesized as an advanced support, combined with the in situ loading and reduction of Ni nanoparticles via a multi-component co-assembly method. The resulting mesoporous Ni/TiO2–C composites exhibit a large surface area (∼340 m2 g−1), uniform pore size (∼4 nm), moderate pore volume (∼0.23 cm3 g−1), and magnetic saturation value of ∼5.1 emu g−1. The corresponding Ni content was varied in the range from 2 to 13 wt%. More importantly, the mesoporous Ni/TiO2–C composites display high catalytic activity towards the reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol with NaBH4. The maximum pseudo-first-order reaction rate constant that was obtained with mesoporous Ni/TiO2–C composites (13 wt% Ni) was calculated to be ∼0.40 min−1, which is much higher than that with Ni/C, TiO2–C and Ni/TiO2 composites. In addition, these catalysts were found to be stable for a long time and reusable several times.
- This article is part of the themed collection: The Creative World of Porous Materials