Facile synthesis of MCM-41/nano zero-valent iron composite for catalytic reduction of p-nitrophenol

Abstract

In this paper, the mesoporous silica MCM-41 supporting nano zero valent iron (MSNZVI) composite was synthesized in a facile way and characterized by XRD, FT-IR, TEM and N2 adsorption–desorption. The catalytic activity of the as-prepared MSNZVI composite as a catalyst was evaluated on the p-nitrophenol reduction in the presence of excess NaBH4. And the rate constant is 4.89 × 10−3 s−1 when the mole ratio of NaBH4 to p-nitrophenol is 500. MSNZVI composite can be reused for at least five cycles with stable catalytic activity. Moreover, a possible catalytic mechanism of MSNZVI was proposed to explain the reduction of p-nitrophenol by NaBH4.