In situ assembly of well-dispersed gold nanoparticles on electrospun silica nanotubes for catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol

摘要

The tubular nanocomposite with well-dispersed distribution of small gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) assembled on the inside and outside surfaces of silica nanotubes (SNTs) was fabricated by combining the single capillary electrospinning technique and an in situ reduction approach. The AuNPs/SNTs nanocomposite exhibited a good catalytic activity for reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP). With the steady and fast growing field of nanoscience and nanotechnology, much attention has been focused on the synthesis of nanosized noble metal particles because of their unusual physical and chemical properties compared to bulk metals and their very important applications in catalysis.