title: Fabrication and Characterization of Monodisperse Magnetic Porous Nickel Microspheres as Novel Catalysts.
abstract: A facile and efficient hard-templating strategy is reported for the preparation of porous nickel microspheres with excellent uniformity and strong magnetism. The strategy involves impregnation of porous polymer microspheres with nickel precursors, calcination to remove the template, followed by thermal reduction. The morphology, structure, and the property of the Ni microspheres were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms, thermogravimetric analysis, and magnetic hysteresis measurement. The obtained porous nickel microspheres were monodispersed with a particle size of 0.91 μm and crystallite size of 52 nm. Their saturation magnetization was much higher than that of Ni nanoparticles. The unique porous nanostructured Ni microspheres possess catalytic activity and excellent recyclability, as demonstrated in the catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol. The micropherical Ni catalysts could be easily separated either by an external magnetic field or by simple filtration.
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Nano-Micro Materials Research, School of Chemical Biology & Biotechnology, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, 518055, China.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Teng
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Nano-Micro Materials Research, School of Chemical Biology & Biotechnology, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, 518055, China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Nano-Micro Materials Research, School of Chemical Biology & Biotechnology, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, 518055, China.
authors.forename: Lili
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Nano-Micro Materials Research, School of Chemical Biology & Biotechnology, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, 518055, China.
authors.forename: Lianbing
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Nano-Micro Materials Research, School of Chemical Biology & Biotechnology, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, 518055, China.
authors.forename: Jiwei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Nano-Micro Materials Research, School of Chemical Biology & Biotechnology, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, 518055, China. hongmei@pkusz.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Nano-Micro Materials Research, School of Chemical Biology & Biotechnology, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, 518055, China. ywang@pkusz.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
keywords: Magnetic microspheres; Porous nickel microspheres; Separable catalysts