A gram-scale fabrication of core–shell copper nanoparticles for efficient hydrogenation of nitroarenes

Abstract

Herein, a series of core–shell catalysts (defined as Cu@NC/PC) has been designed and synthesized for the first time using a functional polymer assistant strategy. Evidently, Cu@NC/PC-900-2 shows excellent catalytic performance in the hydrogenation of nitroarenes due to the large BET surface area and uniformly dispersed metal sites. Furthermore, the honeycomb-like structure is conducive to mass transfer and active site exposure. Both experimental results and theoretical calculations reveal that the N-doping sites are beneficial to the adsorption of the nitro group, making the catalyst display high activity and selectivity under a low H₂ pressure (0.5 MPa) and temperature (50 °C). Most importantly, the catalyst also yields high conversion during the gram-scale catalytic process, which is the key point for practical applications.