Fabrication of 3D Hierarchical Byttneria Aspera‐Like Ni@Graphitic Carbon Yolk–Shell Microspheres as Bifunctional Catalysts for Ultraefficient Oxidation/Reduction of Organic Contaminants

Abstract

The search for earth‐abundant, low‐cost, recyclable, multifunctional as well as highly active catalysts remains the most pressing demand for heterogeneous catalytic elimination of pollutants in water environment remediation. Herein, a porous graphitic carbon‐encapsulated Ni nanoparticles (NPs) hybrid (Ni@GC) is designed/constructed by direct pyrolysis of a Ni‐based metal−organic framework (MOF) in N2. The resulting Ni@GC exhibits a unique 3D hierarchical byttneria aspera‐like yolk–shell structure with a high surface area, abundant active sites as well as good microwave (MW)‐absorbing performance. The outstanding MW‐driven oxidation of norfloxacin to inorganic molecules and direct catalytic reduction of 4‐nitrophenol to less toxic and more useful chemical raw material (4‐aminophenol) can originate from the synergistic effects, including the presence of both zero‐valent Ni NPs as the active center and graphitic carbon as the protective layer/electron acceptor as well as unique porous yolk‐void‐shell structure, which facilitates the MW energy‐harvesting and/or rapid mass transfer of the reactant/product in the channels and cavities. Accordingly, the localized surface plasmon resonance–excitation and electronic relay mechanism are proposed to account for the catalytic oxidation/reduction, respectively. This work provides a new strategy for the design/assembly of multifunctional metal@GC hybrids with a unique architecture and elucidates new opportunities for remediation of environmental water.

MOF-Derived Fe-Doped Ni@NC Hierarchical Hollow Microspheres as an Efficient Electrocatalyst for Alkaline Oxygen Evolution Reaction

“…The O element may come from the adsorbed oxygen and a small amount of metal oxides in the sample. 22 …”

“…Elemental mapping images in Figure g reveal the successful doping of Fe and the uniform distribution of Ni, Fe, O, and C in the prepared Fe(5%)-Ni@NC sample. The O element may come from the adsorbed oxygen and a small amount of metal oxides in the sample …”

Engineering of Yolk/Core–Shell Structured Nanoreactors for Thermal Hydrogenations

“…This technique produced materials that showed favorable performance in the reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol. [127] Similarly, Zn 4 Co 1 O x @carbon hollow catalyst derived by pyrolysis of Zn/ Co-ZIF@polymer was reported to exhibit superior selectivity toward aniline in various nitroarene hydrogenation. [36] Recently, tremendous efforts have been devoted to developing an effective technique for dispersion of metal NPs in nitrogen (and or phosphorus)-doped carbon materials.…”

Melia Azedarach impregnated Co and Ni zero-valent metal nanoparticles for organic pollutants degradation: validation of experiments through statistical analysis

“…It is reported in the literature that different types of MNPs has been used for the degradation of organic pollutants such as Fe NPs, Cu NPs, Ag NPs, and many others [23,[25][26][27][28][29], however, the Ni and Co NPs have been used effeciently for the pollutants removal. The nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (M@N-C) composite and the bifunctional Ni nanoparticles (NPs) hybrid (Ni@GC) synthesized by the direct pyrolysis in the presence of N 2 using metal organic frame work have been investigated against the degradation of organic pollutants [30,31]. Similarly, mesoporous magnetic Co NPs was used for the environmental remediation and its synthesis was carried out through carbonization of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) microspheres entrapped with cobalt salt [32].…”