title: Graphene stabilized ultra-small CuNi nanocomposite with high activity and recyclability toward catalysing the reduction of aromatic nitro-compounds.
abstract: Nowadays, it is of great significance and a challenge to design a noble-metal-free catalyst with high activity and a long lifetime for the reduction of aromatic nitro-compounds. Here, a 2D structured nanocomposite catalyst with graphene supported CuNi alloy nanoparticles (NPs) is prepared, and is promising for meeting the requirements of green chemistry. In this graphene/CuNi nanocomposite, the ultra-small CuNi nanoparticles (∼2 nm) are evenly anchored on graphene sheets, which is not only a breakthrough in the structures, but also brings about an outstanding performance in activity and stability. Combined with a precise optimization of the alloy ratios, the reaction rate constant of graphene/Cu61Ni39 reached a high level of 0.13685 s(-1), with a desirable selectivity as high as 99% for various aromatic nitro-compounds. What's more, the catalyst exhibited a unprecedented long lifetime because it could be recycled over 25 times without obvious performance decay or even a morphology change. This work showed the promise and great potential of noble-metal-free catalysts in green chemistry.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment, Ministry of Education, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, China. m_wen@tongji.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment, Ministry of Education, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, China. m_wen@tongji.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment, Ministry of Education, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, China. m_wen@tongji.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Hanxing
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment, Ministry of Education, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, China. m_wen@tongji.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Qingsheng
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment, Ministry of Education, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, China. m_wen@tongji.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Weiying
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li