Abstract
Supported amorphous alloy catalysts have received wide attention due to their unique structural and electronic properties, high catalytic activity, and thermal stability. In this work, a carbon nanotube (CNT)-supported amorphous Ni-P alloy nanoparticles (NPs) catalyst, referred to as Ni-P/CNTs-MA, is synthesized using a simple one-pot microwave-assisted approach. The prepared Ni-P/CNTs-MA catalyst displays smaller Ni-P NPs, higher metal dispersion and stronger metal-support interactions than the reference catalyst prepared by the traditional water bath heating method (Ni-P/CNTs-WB). The resulting Ni-P/CNTs-MA catalyst exhibits enhanced catalytic activity for the hydrogenation of nitroarenes compared to the Ni-P/CNTs-WB catalyst. The Ni-P/CNTs-MA catalyst also exhibits improved thermal stability and catalytic durability, probably due to the strong interaction between the Ni-P NPs and CNTs.