Abstract
Pulsed laser ablation in liquid (PLAL) is an alternative technique gaining increasing attractiveness to synthesize various pure colloidal nanoparticles, which are ligand-free and devoid of other side products. Thus, in this work, PLAL method was successfully used to synthesize highly stable and recyclable magnetic nanocomposite Bi
2
O
2.75
/α-Fe
2
O
3
. The structural, morphological, and optical properties of the synthesized nanocomposite were studied by various techniques. The catalytic activity of the catalyst was investigated in the reduction reaction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol (4-AP). The catalytic performance of the Bi
2
O
2.75
/α-Fe
2
O
3
nanocomposite was quantitatively measured using UV–Vis spectroscopy. The obtained results showed excellent conversion (99%) at 30 s using 2 mg of catalyst load. The kinetics study revealed that the reduction of 4-nitrophenol follows the pseudo-first-order model. Additionally, the Bi
2
O
2.75
/α-Fe
2
O
3
nanocomposite showed reproducibility and was reused for up to 8 cycles without significant loss in its catalytic performance. The experimental outcomes reveal that PLAL is a facile protocol for the fabrication of highly efficient nanocatalysts.