The colloidal synthesis of unsupported nickel‐tin bimetallic nanoparticles with tunable composition that have high activity for the reduction of nitroarenes

• Preparation of Ni‐Sn bimetallic nanoparticles with tunable composition
• Determination of crystallite size, particle size and catalytic application
• XRD, TEM, HR-TEM and EDX characterizations
• Studied the effect of Ni and Sn content on the catalyst performance
• The Ni74Sn26 catalyst exhibited excellent catalytic activity for the reduction of nitroarenes.

Ni‐Sn bimetallic nanoparticles with controllable size and composition were prepared by facile method in ambient air using inexpensive metal salts. Adjusting stoichiometric ratio of Ni and Sn precursors afforded nanoparticles with different compositions, such as Ni100, Ni74‐Sn26, Ni59‐Sn41, and Ni50‐Sn50. The characterization of nanoparticles was performed by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). Ni75‐Sn25 and Ni60‐Sn40 nanoparticles showed enhanced catalytic activity towards 2-nitroaniline reduction as compared with Ni nanoparticles. Furthermore, Ni75‐Sn25 nanocatalyst exhibited excellent activity for the reduction of a number of nitro aromatic compounds under mild conditions along with high level of reusability.

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