Preparation of Ni nanocatalyst for improved hydrogenation of nitro-aromatics

Abstract

The work describes the synthesis of two different shape Ni nanoparticles for the improved catalytic hydrogenation of nitro-aromatics. These Ni NPs were analyzed using different characterization techniques i.e. X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-vis spectra, Diffused light scattering (DLS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) & Transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The morphology studies revealed that Ni-NP1 was found to be irregular nanospheres and Ni-NP2 as agglomerated nanowires. From the XRD analysis the crystallize size for the Ni-NP1 and Ni-NP2 found to be 8 nm and 14 nm respectively. These Ni-NPs was analyzed for the catalytic hydrogenation of p-nitro phenol. It was observed that Ni nanospheres (NP1) shows higher %yield (89%) for the catalytic hydrogenation of nitro-aromatics compared to Ni nanowires (NP2) & commercially available Raney Ni. The kinetic measurement shows that the hydrogenation of nitro-aromatics follows pseudo first order and Ni NP1 exhibited higher rate constant of 1.5 × 10-2 min-1 compared to NP2 & Raney Ni. Hence, the synthesized nickel nanoparticles could be efficient and effective catalyst for the hydrogenation of industry important nitro-aromatics.