Visible light assisted reduction of nitrobenzenes using Fe(bpy)3 +2/rGO nanocomposite as photocatalyst

Visible-light-induced photocatalytic reduction of aromatic nitrobenzenes to the corresponding anilines at room temperature using reduced graphene oxide (rGO) immobilized iron(II) bipyridine complex as photocatalyst is described. The rGO-immobilized iron catalyst exhibited superior catalytic activity than homogeneous iron(II) bipyridine complex and much higher than metal free rGO photocatalysts. The heterogeneous photocatalyst was found to be robust and could easily be recovered and reused for several runs without any significant loss in photocatalytic activity. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.