Hierarchical AuNPs-Loaded Fe₃O₄/Polymers Nanocomposites Constructed by Electrospinning with Enhanced and Magnetically Recyclable Catalytic Capacities

Rong Guo; Tifeng Jiao; Ruirui Xing; Yan Chen; Wanchun Guo; Jingxin Zhou; Lexin Zhang; Qiuming Peng

doi:10.3390/nano7100317

Hierarchical AuNPs-Loaded Fe₃O₄/Polymers Nanocomposites Constructed by Electrospinning with Enhanced and Magnetically Recyclable Catalytic Capacities

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2017 Oct 12;7(10):317. doi: 10.3390/nano7100317.

Authors

Rong Guo^{1

2}, Tifeng Jiao^{3

4}, Ruirui Xing^{5

6}, Yan Chen⁷, Wanchun Guo⁸, Jingxin Zhou⁹, Lexin Zhang¹⁰, Qiuming Peng¹¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Metastable Materials Science and Technology, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, China. guorong@stumail.ysu.edu.cn.
² Hebei Key Laboratory of Applied Chemistry, School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, China. guorong@stumail.ysu.edu.cn.
³ State Key Laboratory of Metastable Materials Science and Technology, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, China. tfjiao@ysu.edu.cn.
⁴ Hebei Key Laboratory of Applied Chemistry, School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, China. tfjiao@ysu.edu.cn.
⁵ Hebei Key Laboratory of Applied Chemistry, School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, China. rrxing@ipe.ac.cn.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China. rrxing@ipe.ac.cn.
⁷ Hebei Key Laboratory of Applied Chemistry, School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, China. chenyan@ysu.edu.cn.
⁸ Hebei Key Laboratory of Applied Chemistry, School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, China. wc-g@ysu.edu.cn.
⁹ Hebei Key Laboratory of Applied Chemistry, School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, China. zhoujingxin@ysu.edu.cn.
¹⁰ Hebei Key Laboratory of Applied Chemistry, School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, China. zhanglexin@ysu.edu.cn.
¹¹ State Key Laboratory of Metastable Materials Science and Technology, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, China. pengqiuming@ysu.edu.cn.

Abstract

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have attracted widespread attention for their excellent catalytic activity, as well as their unusual physical and chemical properties. The main challenges come from the agglomeration and time-consuming separation of gold nanoparticles, which have greatly baffled the development and application in liquid phase selective reduction. To solve these problems, we propose the preparation of polyvinyl alcohol(PVA)/poly(acrylic acid)(PAA)/Fe₃O₄ nanocomposites with loaded AuNPs. The obtained PVA/PAA/Fe₃O₄ composite membrane by electrospinning demonstrated high structural stability, a large specific surface area, and more active sites, which is conducive to promoting good dispersion of AuNPs on membrane surfaces. The subsequently prepared PVA/PAA/Fe₃O₄@AuNPs nanocomposites exhibited satisfactory nanostructures, robust thermal stability, and a favorable magnetic response for recycling. In addition, the PVA/PAA/Fe₃O₄@AuNPs nanocomposites showed a remarkable catalytic capacity in the catalytic reduction of p-nitrophenol and 2-nitroaniline solutions. In addition, the regeneration studies toward p-nitrophenol for different consecutive cycles demonstrate that the as-prepared PVA/PAA/Fe₃O₄@AuNPs nanocomposites have outstanding stability and recycling in catalytic reduction.

Keywords: Au nanoparticles; catalytic reduction; composite materials; electrospinning; p-nitrophenol.