In situ formation of nitrogen-doped carbon-wrapped Co3O4 enabling highly efficient and stable catalytic reduction of p-nitrophenol

This study presents a novel nitrogen-doped carbon-wrapped Co3O4 prepared by a facile impregnation–carbonization process using low-cost raw materials. The optimized catalyst exhibits the highest activity reported to date for Co-based catalysts used in the reduction of p-nitrophenol to p-aminophenol with NaBH4 and remains highly stable over seven continuous runs.