title: In situ assembly of well-dispersed Ni nanoparticles on silica nanotubes and excellent catalytic activity in 4-nitrophenol reduction.
abstract: The easy aggregation nature of ferromagnetic nanoparticles (NPs) prepared by conventional routes usually leads to a large particle size and low loading, which greatly limits their applications to the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP). Herein, we developed a novel in situ thermal decomposition and reduction strategy to prepare Ni nanoparticles/silica nanotubes (Ni/SNTs), which can markedly prevent the aggregation and growth of Ni NPs, resulting in an ultra-small particle size (about 6 nm), good dispersion and especially high loading of Ni NPs. It was found that Ni/SNTs, which have a high specific surface area (416 m(2) g(-1)), exhibit ultra-high catalytic activity in the 4-NP reduction (complete reduction of 4-NP within only 60 s at room temperature), which is superior to most noble metal (Au, Pt, and Pd) supported catalysts. Ni/SNTs still showed high activity even after re-use for several cycles, suggesting good stability. In particular, the magnetic property of Ni/SNTs makes it easy to recycle for reuse.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Material Science and Chemical Engineering, College of Material Science and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001, P. R. China. yangpiaoping@hrbeu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Shenghuan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Shili
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gai
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Shujiang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Piaoping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yang