Nanosphere Catalyst Research Articles

Remarkable Enhancement of Bismuth Nanosphere Catalyst Activity for the Conversion of Electrocatalytic CO2 to Formate by Bromine Doping.

Driven by renewable energy, using electrocatalysis to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) to chemicals is a key technology. It could dim global carbon emissions and promote the carbon cycle. Here, we reported an approach to prepare a Br-doped Bi nanosphere (Br-doped Bi NSP) catalyst for the preparation of formate by electrochemical conversion of CO2. The synthesized Br-doped Bi NSP catalyst manifests high selectivity toward HCOOH. At the applied potential of -0.9 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode, it could achieve a maximum FEHCOOH of 98%. It can remain constant, and the degradation is negligible in continuous electrolysis for 9 h. The excellent CO2 reduction performance is due to the electron richness at the surface of Br-doped Bi NSP induced by the electron transfer between Bi and Br. Density functional theory calculations and in situ attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared measurements were used to predict the underlying catalyst action's pathway. It can be concluded that the introduction of Br is advantageous to the *OCHO formation, which is conducive to the reduction of the determination step. This research could provide a meaningful view into anion-doping effects to enable effiective electrocatalytic material that selectively reduces carbon dioxide into valuable products.

Oxidation of Toluene over the Pt-Embedded Mesoporous CeO2 Hollow Nanospheres with Advanced Catalytic Performances.

In this study, the novel Pt-embedded mesoporous CeO2 hollow nanospheres (Pt-MS-CeO2-H) with varying Pt contents (0.5-3.0 wt %) were facilely prepared. The Pt nanoparticles were one-pot embedded within the mesoporous shell of Pt-MS-CeO2-H and assisted with the reduction Ostwald ripening process. The traditional preparation methods often face challenges, such as the uneven distribution or aggregation of nanoparticles, as well as difficulty in maintaining high catalytic activity at low Pt content. Compared with the traditional supported Pt/MS-CeO2 catalyst, the embedding strategy facilitated precise control over the position, distribution, and uniformity of Pt nanoparticles within the CeO2 mesoporous shell. Additionally, the encapsulation process of Pt nanoparticles played a pivotal role in generating oxygen vacancies and activating surface chemical adsorption of oxygen. Resultantly, the toluene oxidation performances of 1Pt-MS-CeO2-H catalyst showed much lower T90 (171 °C) than 1Pt/MS-CeO2 (311 °C). To elucidate the underlying reasons, in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy of toluene oxidation was employed to identify the reaction intermediates and pathways over these catalysts. In summary, the Pt-embedded mesoporous CeO2 hollow nanosphere catalysts were considered as potential candidates when designing high-performance toluene catalytic oxidation catalysts.

Binary transition metal oxide: A novel and efficient catalyst for the synthesis of boron nitride nanotubes

AbstractA novel binary transition metal oxide (NiFe2O4) nanosphere catalyst with a diameter of 500 nm has been synthesized by the hydrothermal reaction, which can efficiently catalyze the formation of hexagonal boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) with high‐yield and large aspect ratio. Based on the temperature dependence of the product phase composition and microstructure, combined with results generated using single‐component catalysts, the BNNTs formation process can be summarized as follows: NiFe2O4 reacts with NH3 to generate Fe0.64Ni0.36, which dissolves to form a liquid‐phase Ni‐Fe alloy at high temperatures, where the B component in the precursor and the N atom formed by the decomposition of NH3 diffuse on the surface of the Ni‐Fe alloy; when the concentration of B and N exceed the saturation threshold, hollow BNNTs containing catalyst at the tips are precipitated. The formation process is dominated by a vapor‐liquid‐solid mechanism with tip‐growth mode, where the synergistic catalytic effect of the Ni‐Fe binary system promotes a high yield of large aspect ratio BNNTs.

N, P-doped NiCo2S4 nanospheres with excellent hydrophilicity for efficient oxygen evolution reaction

The rational design of a robust hydrophilic electrocatalyst is essential for enhancing its oxygen evolution reaction(OER). In this work, a nanosphere catalyst (NiCo2S4) composed of 2D-nanosheets was prepared. Interestingly, The hierarchically porous hydrangea-like N,P-NiCo2S4 structure was formed through the doping of nonmetal elements N and P. With the introduction of N and P, the electronic structure of Ni and Co can be optimized and the charge transfer resistance of NiCo2S4 can be reduced, thus improving the kinetics of OER. More importantly, N and P doping increased the hydrophilicity of NiCo2S4, which may have accelerated the surface reconstruction of NiCo2S4, resulting in the generation of truly active sites. Overall, this work not only optimised the electronic structure of NiCo2S4, but also improved its hydrophilicity through the synergistic interaction between the nonmetal elements N and P, which provided ideas for the development of advanced non-noble metal electrocatalysts.

Constructing Efficient CuO-Based CO Oxidation Catalysts with Large Specific Surface Area Mesoporous CeO2 Nanosphere Support.

CeO2 is an outstanding support commonly used for the CuO-based CO oxidation catalysts due to its excellent redox property and oxygen storage-release property. However, the inherently small specific surface area of CeO2 support restricts the further enhancement of its catalytic performance. In this work, the novel mesoporous CeO2 nanosphere with a large specific surface area (~190.4 m2/g) was facilely synthesized by the improved hydrothermal method. The large specific surface area of mesoporous CeO2 nanosphere could be successfully maintained even at high temperatures up to 500 °C, exhibiting excellent thermal stability. Then, a series of CuO-based CO oxidation catalysts were prepared with the mesoporous CeO2 nanosphere as the support. The large surface area of the mesoporous CeO2 nanosphere support could greatly promote the dispersion of CuO active sites. The effects of the CuO loading amount, the calcination temperature, mesostructure, and redox property on the performances of CO oxidation were systematically investigated. It was found that high Cu+ concentration and lattice oxygen content in mesoporous CuO/CeO2 nanosphere catalysts greatly contributed to enhancing the performances of CO oxidation. Therefore, the present mesoporous CeO2 nanosphere with its large specific surface area was considered a promising support for advanced CO oxidation and even other industrial catalysts.

Kinetically promoted hydrogen generation by Ru nanoparticles decorated CoB2O4 on mesoporous carbon spheres with rich oxygen vacancies for NaBH4 hydrolysis

Developing heterostructured catalysts with highly active and reusable is an urgent task to achieve green hydrogen production via NaBH4. Herein, we proposed a novel NaCl template method, which involves solid-state physical grinding of metal salts, reducing agents and prepared carbon spheres with the participation of sodium chloride to synthesize Ru-particles decorated CoB2O4 supported on hollow mesoporous carbon nanospheres (Ru/CoB2O4@C) catalysts for efficient and durable H2 generation through alkaline hydrolysis of NaBH4. The optimized catalyst with a Ru content of 3.0 wt% exhibits a high hydrogen generation rate of 8139 mL min−1gcat-1 and a low activation energy of 33.2 kJ mol−1 for NaBH4 hydrolysis, which is one of the most efficient catalysts reported recently. The extraordinary performance is mainly attributed to the synergistic effect between Ru and CoB2O4 species and abundant oxygen vacancies, which facilitate charge redistribution and provide more active sites, thereby enhancing the catalytic activity. Density functional theory calculations support the proposed Michaelis-Menten mechanism, where BH4− and H2O are adsorbed on electron-rich Ru and electron-deficient CoB2O4 surfaces, respectively, and the reaction energy barrier for the rupture of the B-H bond as the rate-determining step is only 1.37 eV, synergistically promoting the hydrolysis of NaBH4. Our study provides an innovative method for designing efficient and stable catalysts for green hydrogen generation.

MnO2 shape dependent catalytic activity in vapour phase benzyl alcohol (BnOH) oxidation in presence of air

Understanding the relationship between the structure and the activity of the catalyst relies on the shape–controlled synthesis of nanostructures is crucial importance. The vapor phase oxidation of benzyl alcohol (BnOH) process over morphologically designed shape–selective manganese oxide nanorods (MnO2NR) and nanospheres (MnO2NS) catalysts are studied. The key catalytic properties are determined and demonstrated by various characterisation techniques such as P–XRD, BET, H2–TPR, O2–TPD, and Raman analysis. In addition, EDX and STEM–HRTEM microscopic analysis were carried out in better understanding the surface morphology, shape, and structure of the nanocatalysts. The prepared nanoporous MnO2NS catalyst enabled to generate more crystal defects, high surface area, strong reducing capacity, enhanced oxygen vacancies (Ov), and increased reactive surface oxygen species compared to nanorod shaped–MnO2NR catalyst. Significantly the rate of benzaldehyde (BnZA) formation in BnOH oxidation reaction over MnO2NS catalyst is ∼ 1.55 times higher than that of MnO2NR. Over MnO2NS creation of abundant O vacancies considerably improved the capacity of oxygen activation and redox ability.Thus, as a result, there are more active oxygen species which are mobile and reactive in accelerating the BnOH oxidation process.

A simple photocatalytic assisted strategy by MIL-100 (Fe) for fabrication of polymer based on H-bonding as filtrate reducer to resist salt and temperature in ultra-deep wells

Improving the performance of water-based drilling fluids for high temperature, salt and calcium resistance in the exploration of deep and ultra-deep wells is a matter of great urgency. In this study, MIL-100 (Fe) nanosphere catalyst with regular shape, uniform size and good monodispersity is prepared ahead of time. XRD, SEM and BET tests indicates that the MIL-100 (Fe) owning large specific surface areas, adjustable pore sizes and high porosity can display to be a photocatalyst. Based on the excellent photocatalytic activity under visible light, a new one-pot method strategy was supposed to achieve the graft modification on N atom in acrylamide using aziridine, and obtained the multi-amine allyl monomer. Finally, the poly (AM/AMPS/PSMM) (PAAP) filtrate reducer with significant hydrogen bonding effect was successfully synthesized by free radical copolymerization with acrylamide (AM), 2-acrylamide-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid (AMPS) and the pre-synthesized multi-amine allyl monomer. Due to the three dimensional hydrogen bonding interaction and resulted supramolecular association structure, the PAAP-based drilling fluids exhibit outstanding rheological and filtration properties even after aging at high temperatures and high salinity. The filtration volume after aging at 180 °C for 16 h is only 6.0 mL, meanwhile, the 20 wt% NaCl and 1.5 wt% CaCl2 copolymer base slurry aged at 180 °C both show the satisfactory filtration loss and offering performance higher than commercial filtrate reducers. Specifically, after aging at 180 °C, the filtration losses of DSP-1/BM and DSP-2/BM were 19.8 and 37.2 mL with 20 wt% NaCl contamination, respectively, while the filtration loss of PAAP was only 10.8 mL. Even under both 1.5 wt% CaCl2 contamination and 180 °C aging, the filtration loss of PAAP was only 11.0 mL, whereas the filtration loss of DSP-1 and DSP-2 reached 26.0 and 20.0 mL. Finally, the filtration control mechanism of poly (AM/AMPS/PSMM) was proposed via XPS test, hydrogen bonding analysis, filter cake morphologies observation by SEM and particle size distribution measurement.

Cyclotriphosphazene (P3N3) derived FeOx@SPNO-C core–shell nanospheres as peroxymonosulfate activator for degradation via non-radical pathway

Though synergistic interactions between quaternary heteroatom (S, N, P, O) and FexO atoms could significantly improve catalytic performance, however, developing a robust catalyst with quaternary heteroatom-doped carbons and FexO is rarely addressed. We fabricated FeOx@SPNO-C core–shell nanospheres by using cyclotriphosphazene (P3N3)-derived covalent organic–inorganic hybrid frameworks (COIFs) and Fe3O4. The as-synthesized FeOx@SPNO-C nanospheres catalyst attained superior PMS activation for degradation of sulfamethoxazole (SMX), achieving 99.5 % removal efficiency in 18 min, 65.1 % mineralization rate, lower iron leaching (0.014 mg/L), and reaction rate constant was 73.6 % higher than sole SPNO-C, counterpart. Non-radical 1O2 generation was the dominant pathway for SMX degradation, which was confirmed by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), radical quenching inorganic ions addition experiments, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Structural defects, C = O, C = C–C groups, and N/Fe-Nx sites atoms have been revealed to be active sites. The improved degradation of SMX may be attributed to many essential characteristics. Firstly, there is a synergistic impact between FexO and SPNO-C. Additionally, the carbon charge density is high, and there are numerous structural defects present. Furthermore, there is a significant presence of C = O groups, with a higher proportion of sp2 carbon containing sufficient free-flowing π electrons. Lastly, the presence of N/Fe-Nx sites also contributes to the enhanced degradation of SMX. Several intermediate products were found, and a potential degradation mechanism was postulated. The high performance of FeOx@SPNO-C under harsh experimental conditions makes it a potential candidate for the commercial-scale Fenton-like catalyst.

Singlet oxygen dominance for phenolic degradation mediated by mixed-valence FeOx nanospheres

In this investigation, we successfully synthesized magnetic FeOx nanosphere catalysts with mixed-valence and high operational stability through the pyrolysis of a hybrid material containing polyferrocenlyphosphazene with coordinating heteroatoms (N, P, O). We evaluated the degradation performance of these catalysts using the peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation process against four different phenolic compounds, namely phenol, 4-nitrophenol, 2,4-dinitrophenol, and 2,4,5-trinitrophenol. Our results demonstrate the significant role of FeOx in the degradation process. The presence of mixed iron species, such as ferric iron, zero-valent iron, and iron oxides, activated PMS to generate radicals. Additionally, the heteroatoms facilitated the anchoring and dispersion of FeOx nanospheres while also breaking the inertness of the carbon structure. Notably, the FeOx-800 catalyst exhibited a maximum degradation activity of 98% for phenol, surpassing its counterparts. Electron paramagnetic resonance and free radical scavenging experiments confirmed that singlet oxygen (1O2) is the principal reactive oxygen species (ROS) that leads to the oxidative breakdown of phenolic compounds. This study introduces new concepts for designing Fenton-like catalysts incorporating heteroatoms into the carbon matrix. Due to their low cost and non-toxicity, these catalysts have recently received a great deal of attention for peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation and environmental remediation.

The Preparation of Mn-Modified CeO2 Nanosphere Catalysts and Their Catalytic Performance for Soot Combustion

With the increasing stringency of environmental protection regulations, reducing the severe pollution caused by soot particles from diesel vehicle exhaust has become a widespread concern. Catalytic purification technology is currently an efficient method for eliminating soot particles, which needs to develop high-activity catalysts. This work uses a two-step hydrothermal method to synthesize MnOx/CeO2 nanosphere catalysts, which have synergistic effects between manganese and cerium, and have high reactive oxygen species. Among them, the MnCe-1:4 catalyst represents the optimal catalytic activity, and the values of T10, T50, and T90 are 289, 340, and 373 °C, respectively. On account of their simple synthetic procedure and low cost, the prepared MnOx/CeO2 nanosphere catalysts have good prospects for practical applications.

Designing Al-SiO2 nanospheres with co-doped Ce/Cd for the removal of 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene of fuel oil

Catalytic oxidative coupled in-situ hydrodesulfurization technology as an emerging desulfurization process is applied to the removal of organic sulfides from fuels. In this study, Al-SiO2@Ce/Cd core-shell nanosphere catalysts were prepared by a sol-gel method and a co-impregnation method using silica as the carrier, and were in turn applied for the ultra-deep desulfurization of highly resilient 4,6-DMDBT from diesel oil under visible light irradiation. The prepared photocatalyst were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Brauner-Emmette-Teller (BET). Characterization results revealed that Al-SiO2@Ce/Cd had a nanosphere structure, and Ce/Cd were successfully loaded on the surface of Al-SiO2. Bimetallic loading helped increase the specific surface area of the SiO2 material, which could anchor more effective metal active sites. The effects of metal doping amount, doping ratio, catalyst dosage, and reaction temperature on 4,6-DMDBT desulfurization were studied. The results showed that 20% Al-SiO2@Ce/Cd achieved 100% desulfurization performance within 30 min at 60 ℃, thus surpassing many state of the art catalysts reported in literature. Al-SiO2@Ce/Cd remained highly active after 10 times successive reuses with rapid recovery by washing and filtering. Organic nitride had a strong inhibitory effect on diesel desulfurization, which was derived from the competitive adsorption of nitride and sulfide on the effective active site of the catalyst. Based on characterization results and desulfurization results, the appropriate reaction mechanism of the catalytic oxidative coupling in-situ hydrodesulfurization of Al-SiO2@Ce/Cd catalysts was speculated.

Kinetic and Computational Studies of CO Oxidation and PROX on Cu/CeO2 Nanospheres

As supported CuO is well-known for low temperature activity, CuO/CeO2 nanosphere catalysts were synthesized and tested for CO oxidation and preferential oxidation of CO (PROX) in excess H2. For the first reaction, ignition was observed at 95 °C, whereas selective PROX occurred in a temperature window from 50 to 100 °C. The catalytic performance was independent of the initial oxidation state of the catalyst (CuO vs. Cu0), suggesting that the same active phase is formed under reaction conditions. Density functional modeling was applied to elucidate the intermediate steps of CO oxidation, as well as those of the comparably less feasible H2 transformation. In the simulations, various Cu and vacancy sites were probed as reactive centers enabling specific pathways.

Catalytic hydrothermal liquefaction of orange peels into biocrude: An optimization approach by central composite design

Global instability, persistent increase in pump-price, inflation and depletion of fossil fuel resources amidst the continuous discharge of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels combustion call for urgent attention. The application of novel catalyst towards an improved biocrude production and enhanced biomass conversion are required for effective performance of hydrothermal liquefaction of biomass feedstocks. In the present study, iron supported carbon nanospheres (Fe/CNSs) catalyst has been developed using wet impregnation approach and explored for its catalytic potency in improving yield of biocrude using an optimization approach; central composite design. Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) was adopted as a process route where the catalyst dosage (3–6 wt%) and the reaction temperature (330–430 °C) were optimized on the constant weight of orange feedstock (10 g), reaction time of (15 mins) and solvents’ ratio of 3:1 (acetone to ethanol). The performance of the catalyst was found to be aided with the even dispersion of the Fe on the surfaces of the CNSs support and improved surface area. The effects of reaction temperature were observed to be more progressive on biocrude yield formation over the catalyst loading. The optimum biocrude yield, solid residue, biomass conversion and gas yield were obtained to be 71.09 wt%, 28.18 wt%, 71.82 wt% and 40.14 mL/g at 430 °C and 3 wt% catalyst loading. The obtained analysis of variance suggests a good correlation between the experimental and predicted data in all responses. The selectivity of Fe/CNSs catalyst to high yield of phenolics and aromatic compounds in the biocrude suggest that, the biocrude can be further be upgraded into transportation fuel through hydrodeoxygenation process. The findings have further suggested the viability of the developed Fe/CNSs as an effective catalyst for improved HTL products in a batch reactor.

Anchoring Ni3S2/Cr(OH)3 hybrid nanospheres on Ti3C2@NF dual substrates by ion exchange for efficient urea electrolysis.

Developing efficient nonprecious-metal urea oxidation reaction (UOR) electrocatalysts will promote large-scale hydrogen production via electrolytic water splitting. Therefore, on dual substrates consisting of nickel foam (NF) with high-conductivity Ti3C2 adsorbed on it, Ni3S2/Cr(OH)3 nanosphere catalysts were facilely in situ constructed at room temperature via an ion-exchange method. The optimized electrode exhibits obvious advantages and excellent stability in a solution of 1 M KOH containing 0.5 M urea, with an overpotential of 130 mV at 10 mA cm-2 for the UOR. The two-electrode system requires merely 1.52 V to attain a current density of 10 mA cm-2, and shows excellent durability over 60 h. The superior performance of the electrode is mainly attributed to the following three aspects: (i) the introduction of amorphous Cr(OH)3, which improves the catalyst morphology and regulates the electronic structure of the active metal; (ii) the synergistic catalysis by the defect-rich Ni3S2 and Cr(OH)3 on the nanospheres; (iii) the large adsorption surface and excellent electrical conductivity provided by the dual substrates; and (iv) the mild preparation process, which provides excellent stability for the electrode. The ingenious structural design and simple preparation method of Ni3S2/Cr(OH)3-Ti3C2@NF provide ideas for the development of low-cost, high-efficiency UOR electrodes with industrial application prospects.

Megadalton Macromolecules Made-to-Order in Minutes: A Highly Active Nanosphere Catalyst for Preparing High-Molecular Weight Polymers

Megadalton Macromolecules Made-to-Order in Minutes: A Highly Active Nanosphere Catalyst for Preparing High-Molecular Weight Polymers

Rare earths modified highly dispersed fibrous Ni/KCC-1 nanosphere catalysts with superb low-temperature CO2 methanation performances

In this work, a series of rare earths (Pr, Sm, Ce, La) doped Ni/KCC-1 catalysts were prepared and used for CO2 methanation. It was found that doping the rare earths could greatly improve the low-temperature catalytic activities and promoting effect of Sm was more prominent than other doped counterparts (Pr, Ce, La). The effect of the Sm loading amount on the catalytic activity were further evaluated. The kinetic studies revealed that the rare earth doped catalysts performed lower apparent activation energies than the pristine Ni/KCC-1 catalyst. In order to reveal the behind reasons, these catalysts were comprehensively characterized via XRD, XPS, TEM, SEM-EDS, CO2-TPD, H2-TPR, etc. It was found that the presence of the rare earth dopants could evidently intensify the metal-support interaction, promote the dispersion of the metallic Ni active sites, generate abundant surface oxygen vacancies, and enhance the amount of the medium basic sites. Besides, the online TPSR and in-situ DRIFTS indicated that the addition of the rare earth oxides could affect the type of the reaction intermediates and the potential pathway of the CO2 methanation. In general, these rare earths doped catalysts were deemed to be the superb catalyst candidates for the low-temperature CO2 methanation.

Synthesis of spherical, rod, or chain Ni nanoparticles and their structure–activity relationship in glucose hydrogenation reaction

Structure-activity relationships of Ni particles with different morphologies, crystallinities and compositions were investigated for glucose hydrogenation. Nanorods and nanospheres were obtained respectively by altering hydrogen pressure during synthesis, and nanobead chains were synthesized for analogy analysis following a known procedure. Glucose hydrogenation over Ni nanosphere catalysts exhibits the lowest reaction barrier (Ea = 32 kJ/mol) compared to nanorods and nanobead chains (98 kJ/mol), and a constant sorbitol selectivity of 100 % was obtained at a temperature of 140 °C. A comprehensive characterization with ATR-IR, Raman, XPS, ICP, P-XRD, HRTEM and SAED revealed that the combined factors of poly-crystallinity, amorphous structure and P- dopant make Ni nanospheres superior. This provides a valuable path in the process of designing better non-noble catalysts to definitely avoid the use of noble metals in the future in biomass valorization reactions.

Supramolecular grafting and stabilization of manganese complex on kryptofix23 modified Fe3O4@carbon nanosphere: as highly efficient, reusable, and clean nanocatalyst for xanthene’s unusual coupling

Grafting and stabilization of metal complexes for increasing catalytic activity have remained an enormous challenge in the catalytic arena. However, designing a catalytic system with complementary properties including high surface area, high loading, and easy separation offers a promising route for efficient utilization of magnetic material for various applications. Herein, a novel core–shell nanosphere catalyst (Fe3O4@C/KP23@MnCl2) was successfully synthesized with a magnetite core encapsulated in a carbon shell. It was modified using CPTES (3-chloropropyltriethoxysilane) and Kryptofix23 (KP23) ligand in the carbon surface for conversion to Fe3O4@C/KP23 support. The Manganese complex was coordinated onto the KP23 ligand decorated Fe3O4@C to improve the unusual coupling xanthenes in ethanol. It was found proposed nanocatalyst is a greener, recyclable, and more suitable option for large-scale application and provides some new insights into organic transformation.

Double recovery and regeneration of Pt/C catalysts: Both platinum from the spent proton exchange membrane fuel cell stacks and carbon from the pomelo peel

A novel double-recycling engineering for the regeneration of Pt/C graphitized hollow nanosphere catalysts was proposed for the first time. After recycling Pt from waste proton exchange membrane fuel cell stacks (PEMFC) as a platinum source and recycling waste pomelo peel as a carbon source, Pt/C catalysts were regenerated by polyol reduction, which was useful for sustainable energy development. The recovery efficiency of Pt reaches 96.4 ± 0.2%. The graphitized hollow nanospheres were synthesized by investigating critical factors by adjusting: 1) pyrolysis temperature and 2) treatment method. The graphitized hollow nanosphere material from the waste pomelo peel was prepared by an improved method at 1000 °C (denoted as PP-2–1000). The recovered Pt was combined with PP-2–1000 and commercial carbon (CC) to make Pt/PP-2–1000 and Pt/CC catalysts, respectively. The electrochemical active surface area (ECSA) of Pt/PP-2–1000 is equivalent to that of Pt/CC. For oxygen-reduction reaction (ORR), the mass activity (im at 0.9 V) of Pt/PP-2–1000 is 2.98 times higher than that of Pt/CC. After the accelerated durability test (ADT), the ECSA's remaining efficiency of Pt/PP-2–1000 is 10.1% higher than that of Pt/CC. It proves that the recovered Pt/PP-2–1000 has excellent stability and electrochemical performance. The research may have a profound impact on the sustainable development of PEMFC and biomass-related industries.