Metal-arene reduced Fe-Sb nanoparticles as a highly efficient catalyst for nitrophenol reduction

The recently discovered enhanced electrochemical performance of binary antimonides has attracted significant interest as an anode material in lithium/sodium ion batteries; however, their potential as an efficient catalyst has not been much explored. Here, we report the synthesis of FeSb based nanoparticles by sodium naphthalenide-driven reduction and study of their catalytic performance in the reduction of p-nitrophenol to p-aminophenol. Structural, surface and magnetic studies of the synthesized samples reveal the formation of very small (1-2 nm), uniformly dispersed weakly magnetic porous nanoparticles. The sample with 30 min refluxing time showed improved catalytic activity for p-nitrophenol to p-aminophenol reduction. The results were consistent with N-2 adsorption-desorption analysis, which confirmed more porosity in the same sample. Optimization of the refluxing time to enhance the catalytic performance showed the presence of a narrow time window, beyond which the activity degrades. The present study suggests that binary antimonides could possibly be used as an efficient catalyst with better activity than earlier reported ones.