Towards mass production of Au nanoparticles supported on montmorillonite microspheres for catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol

摘要: Abstract Noble metals supported on substrates have been proven as highly efficient catalysts for the reduction of nitro-compounds. However, their large-scale applications are still limited by problems fouling and transport during mass production process. Herein, we first fabricated a spherical montmorillonite (Mt) substrate via spray drying technique, followed deposition Au NPs through polydopamine chemistry to synthesize nanoparticles Mt (Au@Mt) microspheres. The loading is 14.5 wt%, whereas specific surface area Au@Mt microspheres 47.3 m2 g−1, endowing prepared with excellent catalytic activity 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) in presence NaBH4 optimized apparent rate constant higher than 1.05 min−1. Furthermore, can be easily recycled self-sedimentation without any devices involved showed stability recyclability at least 20 cycles almost unchanged morphology performance. Our straightforward strategy solve issue process granulation amorphous nanomaterial facilitates practical application these