High-Performance Catalytic Reduction of 4-Nitrophenol to 4-Aminophenol over Pt Nanoparticles Supported on Co-Al LDH Nanosheets

Abstract

In this study, a Pt@Co-Al LDH hybrid structure was fabricated by assembling the metal precursor PtCl62− with the exfoliated LDH nanosheets followed by in situ reduction by NaBH4. The morphology, composition and microstructure of the hybrid were characterized by FESEM, HRTEM, XRD, XPS and BET techniques. Pt nanoparticles (NPs) with an average particle size of 3.1 nm were successfully and uniformly loaded on the surface of LDH nanosheets. The catalytic activity of the Pt@Co-Al LDH hybrid was tested for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol, which is one of the most frequent pollutants in wastewater effluent from the pharmaceutical and textile industries. The hybrid displays superior catalytic activity and stability in the reduction of 4-NP under environmental conditions with NaBH4 as a reducing agent. The hybrid can be recovered in a simple way and still shows high catalytic activity after five reuses.

Keywords

• Co-Al LDH
• platinum nanoparticles
• 4-nitrophenol reduction
• exfoliation/restacking
• heterogeneous catalysis