title: Facile synthesis of well-dispersed silver nanoparticles on hierarchical flower-like Ni3Si2O5(OH)4 with a high catalytic activity towards 4-nitrophenol reduction.
abstract: Layered nickel silicate nanoflowers (NSFs) with a hierarchical nanostructure have been successfully fabricated by a template-free solvothermal method. The as-prepared nanoflowers were composed of many interconnected edge-curving lamellae with a thickness of about 15 nm and had a high specific surface area (279 m(2)  g(-1)) and large pore volume (0.67 cm(3)  g(-1)). The highly dispersed small silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were immobilized on the surface of NSFs through the in situ reduction of Ag(+) by Sn(2+). The AgNP/NSF nanocomposites showed a high performance in the catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol. In particular, there was no visible decrease in the catalytic activity of the reused catalysts even after being recycled four times. The as-prepared AgNP/NSF nanocomposites might be an excellent catalyst owing to their availability, formability, chemical and thermal stability, and high specific surface area.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, PR China.
authors.forename: Renxi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.forename: Xiaodan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Shaolin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Donghui
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Fangfang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Wenbin
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Shuyan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Song