Simple synthesis of copper/MXene/polyacrylamide hydrogel catalyst for 4-nitrophenol reduction.

• A non-noble copper/MXene/polyacrylamide hydrogel was designed. • The hydrogel was synthesized by in-situ polymerization and self-reduction methods. • The hydrogel catalyst had superior catalytic activity for 4-nitrophenol reduction. • The hydrogel catalyst with foam-like structure can be simply recycled. Noble metal-based catalysts are often used in industrial catalytic reactions. However, the high price hinders their practical application. Herein, a novel Copper/MXene/polyacrylamide hydrogel catalyst is synthesized via in-situ polymerization and self-reduction method. We use Copper (Cu) as catalytic species, two-dimensional transition metal carbides (MXene) as electron transfer medium, and porous polyacrylamide (PAM) as adsorbent for designing this non-noble hydrogel catalyst. The electron transfer and adsorption capacity are improved by the synergy effects of Cu/MXene/PAM, and thus the composite catalyst for 4-nitrophenol reduction shows high catalytic activity. It is impressive that this foam-like hydrogel catalyst can be easily separated and reused many times, which has potential application for industrial catalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]