Abstract
In this work, low-cost lignin nanospheres were fabricated and further applied as an efficient and sustainable support for preparing cuprous oxide (Cu2O) “green” catalyst by using electrospraying technology. The unalloyed lignin, a special three-dimensional molecular structure, was successfully processed into uniform nanospheres under an electrospraying condition. The synthesized lignin-supported Cu2O catalyst had a well-defined nanosphere structure, and Cu2O nanoparticles with sizes less than 30 nm were supported by exposed layers of lignin nanospheres. There were C–O–Cu bonds formed between the lignin nanospheres and the metallic nanoparticles. The lignin nanospheres and the lignin nanosphere-supported catalyst werfe characterized by utilizing XRD, SEM, TEM, XPS, EDS, and TGA. The immobilization of Cu2O nanoparticles on the lignin nanospheres was beneficial for dispersion of the Cu2O nanoparticles and preventing their aggregation, which could cause catalyst deactivation, which favored the Huisgen [3+2] cycloaddition reaction. The triazole synthesis results indicated that the lignin nanosphere-supported Cu2O catalyst had a high catalytic performance with 99% yield under solvent-free conditions. Furthermore, the as-synthesized catalyst could be recycled for four times without significantly losing its catalytic activity.
Highlights
In this work, low-cost lignin nanospheres were fabricated and further applied as an efficient and sustainable support for preparing cuprous oxide (Cu2 O) “green” catalyst by using electrospraying technology
The triazole synthesis results indicated that the lignin nanosphere-supported Cu2 O catalyst had a high catalytic performance with 99% yield under solvent-free conditions
The surface tension is greater than the electric force, which plays a key role on the nanospherical shape of lignin
Summary
Low-cost lignin nanospheres were fabricated and further applied as an efficient and sustainable support for preparing cuprous oxide (Cu2 O) “green” catalyst by using electrospraying technology. “Click” chemistry has a wide scope, gives high yields, and forms irreversible carbon–heteroatom and carbon–carbon bonds [1]. It uses only the most practical and reliable chemical reactions to connect a diversity of structures bearing a wide variety of functional groups [2]. It has attracted much attention in many research areas, such as catalyst design, polymer synthetization, material science, synthesizing libraries of compounds, and drug development [3]. Monovalent copper-mediated azide–alkyne Huisgen [3+2] cycloaddition is a highly typical and important “click” reaction [4]
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