Well-dispersed gold nanoparticles anchored into thiol-functionalized hierarchically porous materials for catalytic applications

•A thiol-functionalized hierarchically porous material as Au catalyst support.•The catalyst shows unique framework structure and excellent stability.•Performance of the reduction reaction demonstrates its high catalytic activity.•Post-modification will develop its extensive application in numerous fields.

In this work, we demonstrate a novel method that enables the fabrication of thiol-functionalized hierarchically porous materials (SH-HPMs) by combination of hyper-cross-linking and molecular templating of core-shell bottlebrush copolymers. Well-dispersed gold (Au) nanoparticles with an average size of 3.0 nm, synthesized by in situ reduction of HAuCl4, were then anchored into the SH-HPMs support, which showed remarkable catalytic performances on the reduction reaction of 4-nitrophenol.

Graphical abstractWe demonstrate a novel fabrication of thiol-functionalized hierarchically porous materials (SH-HPMs) by combination of hyper-cross-linking and molecular templating of core-shell bottlebrush copolymers. Well-dispersed gold (Au) nanoparticles synthesized by in situ reduction of HAuCl4 were anchored into the SH-HPMs and showed remarkable catalytic performances in the reduction of 4-nitrophenol.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide