title: In situ assembly of well-dispersed Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs) on electrospun carbon nanofibers (CNFs) for catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol.
abstract: Carbon nanofibers/silver nanoparticles (CNFs/AgNPs) composite nanofibers were fabricated by two steps consisting of the preparation of the CNFs by electrospinning and the hydrothermal growth of the AgNPs on the CNFs. The as-prepared nanofibers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, resonant Raman spectra, thermal gravimetric and differential thermal analysis, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, respectively. The results indicated that not only were AgNPs (25-50 nm) successfully grown on the CNFs but also the AgNPs were distributed without aggregation on the CNFs. Further more, by adjusting the parameters in hydrothermal processing, the content of silver supported on the CNFs could be easily controlled. The catalytic activities of the CNFs/AgNPs composite nanofibers to the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) with NaBH(4) were tracked by UV-visible spectroscopy. It was suggested that the CNFs/AgNPs composite nanofibers exhibited high catalytic activity in the reduction of 4-NP, which might be attributed to the high surface areas of AgNPs and synergistic effect on delivery of electrons between CNFs and AgNPs. And, the catalytic efficiency was enhanced with the increasing of the content of silver on the CNFs/AgNPs composite nanofibers. Notably, the CNFs/AgNPs composite nanofibers could be easily recycled due to their one-dimensional nanostructural property.
authors.affiliation: Center for Advanced Optoelectronic Functional Materials Research, Key Laboratory of UV Light-Emitting Materials and Technology of Ministry of Education, Northeast Normal University, 5268 Renmin Street, Changchun, 130024, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Changlu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.forename: Zhenyi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Mingyi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jingbo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mu
authors.forename: Zengcai
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Yichun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D002384:Catalysis; D055664:Electrochemical Techniques / Q000379:methods; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D057139:Nanofibers / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods; D017942:Nitric Acid; D009596:Nitrophenols / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010316:Particle Size; D012834:Silver / Q000737:chemistry*; D013057:Spectrum Analysis; D013499:Surface Properties; D013818:Thermogravimetry; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D009596:Nitrophenols; D012834:Silver; D017942:Nitric Acid; D002244:Carbon; C024836:4-nitrophenol