Ultrafast catalytic reduction of environmental pollutants in water via MOF-derived magnetic Ni and Cu nanoparticles encapsulated in porous carbon

The current study deals with the synthesis and development of nickel and copper-based nanocatalysts for NaBH4-mediated reduction of environmental pollutants. To achieve this, metallic Ni and Cu nanoparticles-embedded carbon sheets, namely as C@Ni and C@Cu, are synthesized through annealing of Ni-BDC and Cu-BDC metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) under an argon atmosphere at 600 °C. XRD analysis showed that the Cu-BDC and Ni-BDC MOFs convert completely to the corresponding C@Ni and C@Cu nanocatalysts upon annealing. SEM and TEM micrographs illustrated decoration of nanoscale metallic Ni and Cu nanoparticles over porous carbon sheets. Raman analysis of the C@Ni and C@Cu nanocatalysts illustrated the existence of carbon as graphite with D and G bands. Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) measurements also revealed the superparamagnetic behavior of the C@Ni nanocatalyst. Their catalytic performance was tested for the catalytic reduction of environmental pollutants such as 4-nitrophenol, methyl orange and methylene blue. The obtained results from the catalytic studies are comparable with previously reported many other noble metal-based and transition metal-based nanocatalysts. Moreover, the catalytic performance of the developed catalysts dropped slightly (