Magnetic Iron Oxide Nanoneedles with Hierarchical Structure for Controllable Catalytic Activity of 4-Nitrophenol Reduction

• Published in: Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 13; no. 6; p. 1037
• Main Authors: Jeon, Hyokyung, Lee, Ha-Jin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 13.03.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Aqueous solutions; Catalysts; Catalytic activity; Controllability; Dopamine; Ferric oxide; Gold; hierarchical nanostructure; Iron compounds; iron oxide nanoneedles; Iron oxides; Magnetic cores; magnetic nanoparticle; Magnetic properties; multi-metallic nanoparticles; Nanocomposites; Nanoparticles; Nitrophenol; p-Nitrophenol; polydopamine; Polymerization; Scanning electron microscopy; Silver; Sodium; Spectrum analysis; Sustainability; Synergistic effect; Thickness; Transmission electron microscopy; South Korea; United States > US; Japan; magnetic nanoparticle; multi-metallic nanoparticles; polydopamine; iron oxide nanoneedles; catalytic activity; hierarchical nanostructure
• ISSN: 2079-4991; 2079-4991
• DOI: 10.3390/nano13061037

Catalyst systems with high catalytic activity and sustainability are highly desirable. Here, we report a design for catalytic composites with a hierarchical structure in which polydopamine (PD), multi-metallic nanocatalysts and iron oxide nanoneedles are successively deposited on a magnetic core. PD layers with various thicknesses are coated onto the magnetic core and serve as a template by which to take up multi-metallic nanocatalysts such as Au, Ag and Pt nanoparticles. The iron oxide nanoneedles act as spacers, preventing the nanocomposite from aggregating and increasing the surface area of the composite. The distinctive structures of the controllable template, the multi-metallic catalysts and needle-like layers enable the rapid migration of reactive ionic species and enhance catalytic ability via the synergistic effect of the multi-metallic nanocatalysts and iron oxide nanoneedles. Moreover, due to the strong magnetic property of the catalytic nanocomposites, they can be easily recovered with an external magnet and reused. Our hierarchical nanocomposites for recyclable nanocatalysts provide a new design concept for highly efficient catalysts.