Ag-inducing growth of nano-B2O3 on the surface of p-BNNS for synergistically boosting catalytic performances

Abstract

• A novel strategy was developed to prepare an Ag-B 2 O 3 /p-BNNS composite material. • Trace Ag promotes the growth of B 2 O 3 crystal on the surface of p-BNNS. • Ag-B 2 O 3 /p-BNNS exhibits giant synergistic catalysis between trace Ag and nano-B 2 O 3 . • The Ag content decreased 0.07–0.0007 fold than that of reported Ag catalysts. Herein, we developed a strategy to prepare the Ag-B 2 O 3 /p-BNNS (porous hexagonal boron nitride nanosheets) composite material possessing only 0.0067 wt% Ag by in-situ thermal decomposition of AgNO 3 and surface oxidation of p-BNNS at 500 ◦ C in air. Results suggested that Ag 0 acted as crystal seeds for the crystallization of B 2 O 3 . Ag-B 2 O 3 /p-BNNS catalyst showed 6–20-fold catalytic activity enhancement for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) compared with Ag/p-BNNS and B 2 O 3 /p-BNNS due to the evenly dispersion and synergistic effect between Ag and B 2 O 3 . Moreover, Ag-B 2 O 3 /p-BNNS retained a stable catalytic efficiency (around 100 %) over eight reaction cycles.