Palladium nanoparticles decorated mesoporous carbon spheres as catalyst for reduction of 4-nitrophenol.

Two kinds of polyaromatics with mesoporous have been synthesized from aromatic hydrocarbons using anhydrous zinc chloride as the Friedel-Crafts catalyst and chloromethyl methyl ether as a cross-linker, after the Pd nanoparticles (PdNPs) decorated on the mesoporous carbon spheres (Pd@CSs) have been prepared by simply mixing the as-prepared polyaromatics (polynaphthalene or polypyrene) with PdCl2, reducing the Pd2+ to Pd0 by using NaBH4, followed by thermal treatment at 600 degrees C for 5 h in nitrogen atmosphere. The synthesized PdNPs have a uniform size distribution with an average size smaller than 15 nm and they can be loaded on the highly mesoporous carbon microspheres. Structural of the resulting Pd@CSs were carried out using FE-SEM, HR-TEM, X-ray differaction, dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The resulting Pd@CSs have been investigated as a catalyst for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol, showing the Pd@CSs have high catalytic reactivity and recyclability.