Facile Synthesis of Carbon Supported Cobalt Nitride for Heterogeneous Catalysis

Abstract

Metal nitrides have attracted great interest as non-noble catalysts in heterogeneous catalysis due to their exceptional catalytic potential and stability, yet the approach for their synthesis remains challenging. This study entails to an investigative analysis of employing a facile and simplistic procedure for the synthesis of Co4N/C. Pure phase Co4N/C-Anl@800 and Co4N/C-Hmt@800 with in-situ carbon matrix was derived by annealing the precursor coordination polymer using corresponding ligand as aniline and hexamethylenetetramine under inert atmosphere and used as environmental nanocatalyst for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol(4-NP) to 4-aminophenol (4- AP) with NaBH4 as reductant. The as-prepared nanocatalyst Co4N/C-Anl@800 and Co4N/CHmt@ 800, corresponding to their carbonization temperature showed remarkable catalytic efficiency in terms of low activation energy Ea= 1.24×10-1KJ/mol and 3.038×10-1 KJmol-1, respectively. The conversion rate for the catalyst Co4N/C-Anl@800 and Co4N/C-Hmt@800 were calculated to be 0.07793s-1 and 0.2884 s-1 with 97.96% and 97.57% conversion efficiency, respectively. The metallic characteristics of Co4N and its stability makes the catalyst efficient for reusability. The extraordinary catalytic activity can be attributed to the cobalt nitride nanoparticles as active sites and the carbon support doped with nitrogen provides an expressway for the transport of electrons required for catalytic reduction. Prospectively, it is envisioned that this work may facilitate the fabrication of cobalt nitrides for a wide range of industrial applications.