Fabrication and Characterization of Monodisperse Magnetic Porous Nickel Microspheres as Novel Catalysts

A facile and efficient hard-templating strategy is reported for the preparation of porous nickel microspheres with excellent uniformity and strong magnetism. The strategy involves impregnation of porous polymer microspheres with nickel precursors, calcination to remove the template, followed by thermal reduction. The morphology, structure, and the property of the Ni microspheres were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms, thermogravimetric analysis, and magnetic hysteresis measurement. The obtained porous nickel microspheres were monodispersed with a particle size of 0.91 μm and crystallite size of 52 nm. Their saturation magnetization was much higher than that of Ni nanoparticles. The unique porous nanostructured Ni microspheres possess catalytic activity and excellent recyclability, as demonstrated in the catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol. The micropherical Ni catalysts could be easily separated either by an external magnetic field or by simple filtration.