Composition modulation of Cu/Cu2O/CuO nanoparticles supported on carbon for p-nitrophenol reduction

Porous carbon supported Cu/Cu2O/CuO ternary catalysts were fabricated by pyrolysis, in which composition modulation of Cu/Cu2O/CuO was successfully realized by adjusting annealing atmosphere. The correlation between annealing atmosphere and composition of Cu/Cu2O/CuO ternary nanoparticles was deeply investigated. XRD and SEM measurement shows that the composition proportion of Cu/Cu2O/CuO can be effectively controlled by adjusting the annealing atmosphere. HR-TEM and EDS analysis showed that Cu/Cu2O/CuO ternary nanoparticles are highly dispersed into the carbon matrix and harvest more hetero-junction active sites. The effect of Cu/Cu2O/CuO composition on their catalytic activity was investigated in catalytic reduction from p-nitrophenol to p-aminophenol. The experimental result indicated that the catalytic activity of Cu/Cu2O/CuO ternary catalysts exhibits higher catalytic activity than Cu2O/CuO or CuO particles. This work provides a new strategy for synthesizing and modulating porous carbon-supported Cu/Cu2O/CuO ternary nanoparticles.