The design and synthesis of an efficient Ni-MgO solid solution catalyst with specific morphology for the hydrogenation of nitroarenes is highly required. In this work, a banana- like Ni-MgO solid solution incorporation of carbon catalyst (termed as Ni/MgO-C) has been synthesized via a MOFs-templating strategy for one-step pyrolysis of bimetallic Ni- Mg@MOFs.
The developed Ni/MgO-C catalyst was applied to the hydrogenation of nitroarenes reaction, which exhibited good performance for the hydrogenation of nitroarenes to the corresponding arylamines.
The Ni-Mg@MOFs served as a precursor for the preparation of a solid solution catalysts that could improve the dispersion of Ni species, reduce the size of metallic Ni, and strengthen the Ni-MgO interaction, enhance the transfer of electron density. All of these are beneficial for improving the performance of the hydrogenation process.
This MOFs-templating strategy may provide a facile method for the synthesis of Ni-MgO solid solution catalyst for other hydrogenation reactions.
Keywords: Metal-organic frameworks, templated strategy, hydrogenation, nitroarenes, Ni-MgO, solid solution.