Para-nitrophenol reduction on solvothermally prepared cobalt@silica core–shell catalysts

Cobalt supported solids on silica have been prepared as core–shell nanocomposites and via a classical impregnation of commercial and prepared silica. The solids have been characterized by AAS, XRD, N2 adsorption–desorption, UV–Vis spectroscopy and SEM–EDX techniques. The catalytic activity of the solids was probed in the p-nitrophenol reduction in presence of NaBH4. The core–shell solid presented small particle size, high specific surface area, good cobalt dispersion and small gap energy value. All these characteristics contribute to improving the catalytic performance of this solid compared to the solids prepared via silica impregnation and containing the same amount of cobalt.