In situ construction of reduced graphene oxide supported Ag nanoneedles heterogenous nanostructures with superior catalytic activity for 4-nitrophenol

摘要

The Ag nanoneedles decorated reduced graphene oxide (AgNNs/rGO) heterogeneous nanocomposite was fabricated via a simple in situ hydrothermal method, in which, the Ag nanoneedles (AgNNs) showed a diameter of about 20 nm and length of about 500 nm. The possible formation mechanism of the as-prepared nanohybrids was proposed. It was found that the graphene oxide may work as a template for the formation of AgNNs on rGO. Owing to the unique structure and synergistic effect between AgNNs and rGO, the resulting AgNNs/rGO nanohybrids showed impressive catalytic ability with high activity factor of 73,260 s(-1) g(-1) and turnover frequency of 3183.78 h(-1) towards the catalytic hydrogenation of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol. This work may open a new door for the development of Ag-graphene catalysts and the construction of graphene-based nanohybrids with unique structure.