Abstract
Biomass derived metal-free carbon catalysts are urgently needed in wastewater remediation and organic transformation, due to their environmental friendliness, low cost. In this respect, a series of nitrogen-doped hierarchically porous carbons (NHPCs) derived from cheap and abundant eggplant were fabricated via a one-pot strategy under different temperatures from 600 to 900°C, and employed as metal-free catalysts for the reduction of aromatic nitrophenols. Benefiting from the synergistic effects of the hierarchically porous structure, large specific surface area and abundant structural defects, NHPCs obtained from 800 °C has the highest reduction rate of 2.072 min−1 and maximal turnover frequency (TOF) for 4-nitrophenol of 1.23 × 10−2 mM·mg−1·min−1, which is superior to most of the reported metal-free catalysts. In addition, the NHPC-800 also exhibits satisfactory practicality and universality. The kinetic and thermodynamic studies were also conducted, finding that the obtained kinetics data over NHPC-800 fit well to L-H model with a low apparent activation energy (Ea = 18.96 kJ·mol−1). Furthermore, the mechanism was also elucidated by experimental investigation and theoretical calculations, which revealed that the pore creation and doping nitrogen can promote the adsorption of 4-NP and NaBH4 onto NHPC. This study make a significant contribution to the advancement of catalytic reduction of 4-NP by N-doped biochar catalysts.
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call