An efficient integrated catalyst for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol in a continuous flow system: Ag nanoparticles loaded graphene nanosheets immobilized on Ti meshes

Abstract

When the wastewater containing 4-nitrophenol is restored on an industrial scale, it is needful to find an efficient catalyst which can be used in a continuous flow apparatus. Here, graphene nanosheets loaded with Ag nanoparticles were immobilized on Ti meshes. Afterwards, their catalytic behavior was explored in a continuous flow apparatus for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol. It can be found that the Ag nanoparticles loaded graphene nanosheets immobilized on Ti meshes are an efficient catalyst for elimination of 4-nitrophenol from water which is suitable for continuous flow system. When the 4-nitrophenol solution run through the above-mentioned Ti meshes at flow velocity of 3 mL min−1, 92% 4-nitrophenol (100 mL, 1.0 × 10−4 mol L−1) could be eliminated in 150 min. Moreover, this integrated catalyst can also exhibit quite satisfactory durability. After it was used two times, its catalytic activity still could maintain 84% activity of the fresh sample in the third cycle.