Facile Synthesis of Well-Dispersed Silver Nanoparticles on Hierarchical Flower-like Ni3Si2O5(OH)4 with a High Catalytic Activity towards 4-Nitrophenol Reduction.

Layered nickel silicate nanoflowers (NSFs) with a hierarchical nanostructure have been successfully fabricated by a template-free solvothermal method. The as-prepared nanoflowers were composed of many interconnected edge-curving lamellae with a thickness of about 15 nm and had a high specific surface area (279 m2 g−1) and large pore volume (0.67 cm3 g−1). The highly dispersed small silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were immobilized on the surface of NSFs through the in situ reduction of Ag+ by Sn2+. The AgNP/NSF nanocomposites showed a high performance in the catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol. In particular, there was no visible decrease in the catalytic activity of the reused catalysts even after being recycled four times. The as-prepared AgNP/NSF nanocomposites might be an excellent catalyst owing to their availability, formability, chemical and thermal stability, and high specific surface area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]