Copper oxide\u2013graphene oxide nanocomposite: efficient catalyst for hydrogenation of nitroaromatics in water

Kaiqiang Zhang,Joo Hwan Cha,Mohammadreza Shokouhimehr,Tae Hyung Lee,Jun Min Suh,Rajender S Varma,Ho Won Jang,Ji-Won Choi

doi:10.1186/s40580-019-0176-3

Kaiqiang Zhang, Joo Hwan Cha + Show 6 more

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https://doi.org/10.1186/s40580-019-0176-3

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A low-cost nanocomposite catalyst containing copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles (NPs) on graphene oxide (GO) was fabricated by a facile hydrothermal self-assembly process. The segregated CuO NPs and GO exhibited negligible catalytic activities for the reduction of nitroaromatics. However, their hybrid composite accomplished facile reduction with high conversions for several substituted nitroaromatics in aqueous NaBH4 solution; synergetic coupling effect of CuO NPs with GO in the nanocomposite catalyst provided excellent catalytic activity. The nanocomposite catalyst could be separated from the reaction mixture and recycled consecutively.

Highlights

Catalysts play deterministic roles in the hydrogenation of nitroaromatics to aminoaromatics [1,2,3]
The XRD peaks (Fig. 2a) of the nanocomposite catalyst display are well indexed with graphene oxide (GO) and CuO (JCPDS Card no. 89-2530)
The characteristic bands of GO are clearly revealed at 1725 cm−1 for C=O stretching vibrations and 1600 cm−1 for C=C. These peaks disappeared in the CuO–GO nanocomposite catalyst verifying the reduction of GO during the hydrothermal process

Summary

Introduction

Catalysts play deterministic roles in the hydrogenation of nitroaromatics to aminoaromatics [1,2,3]. Engineering hybrid catalysts consist of nanocatalysts integrated susceptible supports is necessary to promote their activities. The nanocomposite catalysts often present improved catalytic properties by exhibiting synergetic effects between the supports and nanocatalysts [29,30,31]. Metal nanocatalysts supported on the graphene may potentially promote the reductants’ electrons donation in the reaction media enhancing the reduction efficiency. The synergetic effect between less-reactive nanocatalysts and graphene leads to highly active hybrid nanocomposite catalysts [35]. Motivated by the aforementioned advantages, we synthesized an efficient nanocomposite catalyst consist of graphene oxide (GO) supported copper oxide NPs (CuO–GO) via a facile hydrothermal self-assembly process for the reduction of nitroaromatics. The CuO– GO nanocomposite catalyst exhibited high yields for the reduction of various nitroaromatics using aqueous sodium borohydride (NaBH4) at room temperature

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