Facile fabrication of Ni nanoparticles embedded within highly N-Doped carbon nanofibers as an outstanding catalyst for quinoline hydrogenation

Recently, electrospinning technology has high-potential applications in the large-scale manufacturing of one-dimensional (1D) nano-catalytic functional materials . Herein, Ni nanoparticles embedded within highly N-doped carbon nanofibers (Ni@NCNFs) were fabricated using polyacrylamide (PAM) and nickel acetate (NiAc) aqueous solutions as precursors by electrospinning and subsequent carbonization for the first time. The as-prepared Ni@NCNFs were smoothly applied to the hydrogenation of quinoline toward 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinoline and manifested excellent catalytic performance with extremely high selectivity (99.0%) at full conversion (99.3%). The influence factors on the physicochemical properties were further studied, including the carbonization temperature, the PAM mass fractions and the mole ratios between PAM and NiAc (PMA/Ni). The present work demonstrated that electrospinning and carbonization could be potential technologies for manufacturing Ni@NCNFs as an outstanding catalyst for quinoline hydrogenation. Furthermore, PAM rich in nitrogen could serve as a new alternative electrospinning precursor for future applications.