Hydrothermally exfoliated P-doped g-C3N4 decorated with gold nanorods for highly efficient reduction of 4-nitrophenol

Abstract

Au nanorods (AuNRs) decorated phosphorus doped graphitic carbon nitride AuNRs/g-C3N(4-x)Px-NS catalyst have been designed and prepared by a facile hydrothermal approach, which is useful for the efficient reduction of nitroaromatics in aqueous solution using NaBH4− as reductant. A series of conventional characterizations like X-ray diffraction, scanning/transmission electron microscopy, Electron dispersive scanning, elemental mapping, Fourier transform infrared FT-IR, photoluminescence, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to identify the physicochemical properties of AuNRs/g-C3N(4-x)Px-NS. The catalytic activities of AuNRs/g-C3N(4-x)Px-NS nanohybrid were studied under different conditions, including the amount of catalyst, NaBH4 dosage, and various temperatures for reduction of 4-nitrophenol (40 mL, 3 mM). Results showed that AuNRs/g-C3N(4-x)Px-NS nanohybrid exhibited superior catalytic performance with turning over (TOF) of 967 for 4-nitrophenol reduction, which is impressively high. In addition, the catalyst exhibited the best performance in reducing the 4-nitrophenol in the shortest possible time. The recyclability and stability of AuNRs/g-C3N(4-x)Px-NS catalyst was also examined.