Green synthesis of nanostructed Ni-reduced graphene oxide hybrids and their application for catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol

We developed an environmentally friendly, one-pot strategy toward preparation of Ni nanoparticles-decorated reduced graphene oxide (Ni-RGO) hybrids, through the use of ethylene glycol as both solvent and reducing agent under solvothermal conditions. Several analytical techniques were used to characterize the resulting Ni-RGO hybrids, which showed that the monodispersed Ni nanoparticles with average diameter of 8 nm were uniformly anchored onto RGO sheets. Furthermore, taking the advantage of the synergetic effects between supported Ni nanoparticles and RGO sheets, Ni-RGO hybrids exhibited a better catalytic activity than pure Ni NPs for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol with sodium borohydride, with kinetic reaction rate being over 2.5 times that of pure Ni NPs.