Porous Co 2 P nanowires as high efficient bifunctional catalysts for 4-nitrophenol reduction and sodium borohydride hydrolysis.

The development of highly efficient and non-noble catalysts for both the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) and NaBH4 hydrolysis is extraordinary attractive but it remains a tremendous challenge. In this work, self-assembled porous Co2 P nanowires (NWs) have been successfully prepared via the low-temperature hydrothermal method and the comprehensive experiments validate that the sample is a high efficient bifunctional catalyst for both the reduction of 4-nitrophenol and sodium borohydride hydrolysis. Specifically, the as-prepared porous Co2 P NWs exhibit more excellent catalytic performance (knor =743s-1 g-1 ) than that of other reported catalysts towards reduction of 4-nitrophenol. The catalytic activity of sodium borohydride hydrolysis is also investigated and the Co2 P NWs show superior hydrogen generation rate (4028mLmin-1 g-1 ) at 30°C for sodium borohydride hydrolysis. Our results indicate that porous Co2 P nanowires possess a potential application on both the sodium borohydride hydrolysis and reduction of 4-nitrophenol.