CuFe2O4 magnetic nanoparticles: A simple and efficient catalyst for the reduction of nitrophenol

In this paper, we discovered that CuFe2O4 magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) possessed high catalytic performance in the reduction of nitrophenol for the first time. The as-prepared CuFe2O4 MNPs exhibited several advantages such as stability, monodispersity, low-cost, simplicity and rapid separation performance over other catalysts for the reduction of nitrophenol. The CuFe2O4 MNPs showed high efficiency in the catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol with the conversion of 95% within 40 s in the presence of NaBH4. The pseudo-first-order kinetic equation could describe the reduction of 4-nitrophenol with the excess amount of NaBH4.

Graphical abstractCuFe2O4 MNPs possess excellent catalytic activity for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol in the presence of NaBH4 with the bleaching of the yellow color of the reaction solution.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slideHighlights► CuFe2O4 MNPs is an outstanding catalyst for the reduction of nitrophenol. ► CuFe2O4 MNPs possess higher catalytic activity than other nanocatalysts. ► The rate constant kapp for the reduction of 4-NP by CuFe2O4 MNPs is 0.12 s−1.