POSS nanocrosslinked poly (ethylene glycol) hydrogel as hybrid material support for silver nanocatalyst

Silver nanoparticles supported on polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (OA-POSS) nanocrosslinked poly (ethylene glycol)-based hydrogels (PEG(600)-POSS/Ag NPs) as novel nanohybrid catalysts were synthesized for the first time. The as-prepared nanohybrid hydrogels were fully characterized by FT-IR, SEM, EDX, XRD, TEM and TGA. PEG(600)-POSS/Ag NPs exhibited excellent catalytic performance for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol (4-AP) in water at room temperature in the presence of borohydride.