Amino-functionalized CuFe₂O₄ supported Pd nanoparticles as magnetically catalyst for H₂ production from methanolysis of ammonia borane and hydrogenation of nitro aromatics

Small and equally distributed Pd nanoparticles (NPs) are tightly anchored on the surface of magnetic and amino (-NH2) functionalized CuFe2O4 to obtain magnetically separable CuFe2O4-NH2@Pd catalyst with core-shell structure. Compared to the inherent catalytic activity of CuFe2O4, the catalytic performance of CuFe2O4-NH2@Pd for dehydrogenation of ammonia-borane (AB) and concurrent hydrogenation of different nitro aromatics by H-2 generated from AB methanolysis can be boosted more effectively than that of CuFe2O4@Pd, which is the control catalyst and is prepared by loading Pd NPs on pristine CuFe2O4. As electron donating groups, the -NH2 groups covalently bonded to the surface of CuFe2O4 play vital roles in stabilizing Pd NPs, providing strong metal-support interaction and rendering enhanced catalytic activity. However, we find that the catalytic performance of CuFe2O4, CuFe2O4@Pd and CuFe2O4-NH2@Pd for the hydrogenation reduction of mercapto-substituted nitro aromatics (p-nitrothiophenol, p-NTP) is far inferior to that for the reduction of nitroarenes that do not contain a sulfur substituent. Therefore, it is quite essential to research and develop the new-type catalysts with more excellent catalytic performance.(c) 2023 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC.