Flower-like 3-dimensional hierarchical Co₃O₄/NiO microspheres for 4-nitrophenol reduction reaction

Aromatic nitro compounds are toxic and not biodegradable. Therefore, the elimination of nitro groups is very important. Metal catalysts play an important role in the catalytic transformation. We present here flower-like 3D hierarchical Co₃O₄/NiO microspheres, which are prepared by a chemical precipitation method. The as-prepared catalyst is characterized by FTIR, SEM, TEM, EDS, XRD, XPS and N₂ sorption isotherms. They have shown different morphologies such as flower, nanocubes, and hexagonal structure at different calcined temperatures. The synthesized catalyst is tested and used for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol in the presence of sodium borohydride as a reducing agent. The reaction takes place in an aqueous medium at room temperature. The bimetallic catalyst Co₃O₄/NiO showed good performance and reusability.