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

Abstract

Abstract 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 m 2 g −1 ) and large pore volume (0.67 cm 3 g −1 ). The highly dispersed small silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were immobilized on the surface of NSFs through the in situ reduction of Ag + by Sn 2+ . 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.