Biogenic-Mediated Synthesis of Mesoporous CuO/CuO Nano-Architectures of Superior Catalytic Reductive towards Nitroaromatics.

CuO/CuO nano-architectures were prepared by biogenic-mediated synthesis using pomegranate seeds extract as the reducing/stabilizing mediator during an aqueous solution combustion process of the Cu precursor. The fabricated CuO/CuO nanocomposite were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and nitrogen sorption. Nitrobenzene (NB) was applied a probe to test the catalytic activities of the fabricated CuO/CuO nanocomposite. The results indicated that pomegranate seeds extract (PSE) manifest CuO/CuO NPs of tiny particle size, larger pore volume and greater surface area compared to the bulky CuO synthesized in the absence of PSE. The surface area and total pore volume of CuO/CuO NPs were 20.1 m g and 0.0362 cm g, respectively. The FESEM image shows the formation of broccoli-like architecture. The fabricated CuO/CuO nanocomposite possesses surprising activity towards the reduction of nitro compounds in the presence of NaBH into amino compounds with high conversion (94%). The reduction process was performed in water as a green solvent. Over four consecutive cycles the resulting nanocomposite also exhibits outstanding stability. In addition, the resulting CuO/CuO nanocomposite suggested herein may encourage scientists to start preparing more cost-effective catalysts for marketing instead of complicated catalysts.