Evaluation of the physiochemical properties and catalytic performance of mixed metal oxides-carbon nanotubes nanohybrids containing carbon nanotubes with different diameters

In this study, three types of oxided multi-wall carbon nanotubes (o-MWCNT) with different diameters and oxygen-containing group content were used to synthesize Layered double hydroxides/mixed metal oxides-carbon nanotubes (LDH/MMO-CNT) nanohybrids via a homogeneous urea precipitation method. The surface morphology, structure, graphitization of as-prepared nanohybrids were investigated by Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and Raman measurements, etc. The results showed that 3D hierarchical honeycomb nano-structured MMO-CNT was obtained when adding o-MWCNT with a diameter < 8 nm during preparation. And addition of o-MWCNT with a diameter > 30 nm; resulted in formation of a structure in which 1D CNT coupled with layers of 2D LDH/MMO with a “line-face” morphology. The results of bisphenol A degradation showed that addition of o-MWCNT with a smaller diameter led to better catalytic performance of MMO-CNT nanohybrids. It may be attributed to the better graphitization and highly dispersed activated components in the catalyst.