Synthesis of Fe 3 O 4 /Pt Nanoparticles Decorated Carbon Nanotubes and Their Use as Magnetically Recyclable Catalysts

We report a facile approach to prepare Fe 3 O 4 /Pt nanoparticles decorated carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The superparamagnetic Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles with average size of 4 ∼ 5 nm were loaded on the surfaces of carboxyl groups functionalized CNTs via a high-temperature solution-phase hydrolysis method from the raw material of FeCl 3 . The synthesis process of magnetic CNTs is green and readily scalable. The loading amounts of Fe 3 O 4 nanopartilces and the magnetizations of the resulting magnetic CNTs show good tunability. The Pt nanopaticles with average size of 2.5 nm were deposited on the magnetic CNTs through a solution-based method. It is demonstrated that the Fe 3 O 4 /Pt nanoparticles decorated CNTs have high catalytic activity in the reduction reaction of 4-nitrophenol and can be readily recycled by a magnet and reused in the next reactions with high efficiencies for at least fifteen successive cycles. The novel CNTs-supported magnetically recyclable catalysts are promising in heterogeneous catalysis applications.