One-pot synthesis of Ni nanoparticle/ordered mesoporous carbon composite electrode materials for electrocatalytic reduction of aromatic ketones

A simple one-pot synthesis of Ni nanoparticle/ordered mesoporous carbon composite electrode materials is demonstrated for electrosynthesis for the first time. The obtained nanocomposites have uniform mesopore sizes (3.0-3.7 nm), large specific surface areas (506-633 m(2) g(-1)), high pore volumes (0.28-0.38 cm(3) g(-1)), well-graphitized carbon frameworks, and uniformly dispersed Ni nanoparticles (7-15 nm) embedded in the carbon pore walls. The prepared materials show very high performance in the selective (similar to 84%) electrocatalytic reduction of aromatic ketones into alcohols (similar to 79%).