Ni Particles Fabricated by a Bio-Polymer-Assistant Strategy toward the Efficient Reduction of Nitroarenes at Ambient Temperature

Graphical An embedded Ni-based catalysts have been designed and synthesized by a biopolymer-assistant strategy which followed by calcination under different temperature. Among of them, Ni@PC-900 shows an excellent activity and chemo-selectivity for the hydrogenation of nitroarenes under mild conditions, even in the present of alternative unsaturated groups. Considering of the fact that many of the catalysts reported previously show low selectivity in the hydrogenation reaction. Herein, a series of nickel particles embedded in porous carbon have been synthesized by bio-template strategy. Among of them, Ni@PC-900 (PC: porous carbon; 900: the pyrolysis temperature) shows higher activity and selectivity (conversion>99 % within 30 minutes under room temperature) than that of other catalysts. All of the characterizations of the as-synthesized indicate that the high catalytic activity has a positive correlation with the particle size and distribution of the particles. Moreover, Ni@PC-900 also exhibits excellent durability maybe due to the well core-shell structure protecting the active site from leaching during the catalytic process.