Novel sheet-like bismuth subcarbonate-zinc ferrite (Bi2O2CO3/ZnFe2O4) magnetically recyclable nanocomposites: Synthesis, characterization and enhanced catalytic performance for the reduction of nitrophenols and nitroanilines

Sheet-like Bi2O2CO3/ZnFe2O4 magnetic nanocomposites (denoted as BOC-ZFO) with different amounts of magnetic ZnFe2O4 (ZFO) nanoparticles were successfully produced by a simple hydrothermal route. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-vis DRS), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), and N-2 adsorption-desorption examination were utilized to analyze the structure, morphology, size, phase composition, optical and magnetic properties of the synthesized nanocomposites. The results demonstrated the successful deposition of uniform ZFO nanoparticles onto the surface of sheet-like BOC nanostructures. Then, the catalytic activity of magnetic BOC/ZFO nanocamposites was investigated for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol (4-AP) by using sodium borohydride (NaBH4) in hydrous solution and at room temperature. The results showed that BOC/ZFO nanocamposite with 30%wt of ZFO showed the best performance in the reduction of 4-NP with 100% conversion into the amino derivative during 30min. The effect of catalyst dosage was also investigated on the efficiency of reduction process. Under similar conditions, 2-nitrophenol (2-NP), 4-nitroaniline (4-NA) and 2-nitroaniline (2-NA) were also reduced to the amino derivatives within 16-29min. The magnetic BOC/ZFO catalyst could be easily separated from the reaction system by an external magnet.