Facile insitu preparation of silver nanoparticles supported on petroleum asphaltene-derived porous carbon for efficient reduction of nitrophenols

Herein, a facile in situ approach to synthesize catalytically active Ag nanoparticles supported on eco-friendly asphaltene-derived porous carbon (APC) was reported. Asphaltene-derived porous carbon was used as support for the first time for Ag@APC to prevent nanoparticles from aggregation, and then was evaluated as catalyst for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (PNP), 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP), and 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (TNP). The synthesized Ag nanoparticles were characterized by XRD, UV, BET, FESEM, TEM, and ICP analyses, revealing the formation of uniformly distributed, fcc structured crystalline Ag nanoparticles with BET surface area varied between 1500 and 1723 cm⁻¹ with a porous carbon surface. Ag@APC nanocatalyst showed high catalytic efficiency in the reduction of nitrophenols in the presence of NaBH₄ under mild conditions. The reduction of PNP, DNP, and TNP have pseudo-first-order rate constants of 0.3340, 0.2570, and 0.2408 min⁻¹, respectively. The catalyst could be recyclable and reused for at least five successive runs without losing its original activity.