Facile fabrication of graphene encapsulating 3d transition metal nanoparticles as highly active and anti-poisoning catalysts for selective hydrogenation of nitroaromatics.

Graphene encapsulating 3d transition metal nanoparticles (Ni, Co, Fe@G) are successfully fabricated through pyrolysis of complexes which are simply prepared via "acid-base reactions" between metal hydroxides and carboxylic acid such as citric acid. In particular, the Ni@G catalyst exhibits outstanding catalytic activity and selectivity (>99%) toward the reduction of various nitroaromatics under mild conditions (1 MPa H2, 60 °C), even in the presence of poisons (CO and thiophene etc.). This "acid-base reactions" based method provides a facile and scalable approach to prepare graphene encapsulating 3d transition metals with wide ranges of applications.