Belt-Like Cobalt Phosphate Tetrahydrate as the Non-Noble Metal Catalyst with Enhanced Catalytic Reduction Activity

In this work, the belt-like cobalt phosphate tetrahydrate (Co−P-HT) was successfully synthesized by the hydrothermal method without adopting template and complicated manipulation. To the best of our knowledge, the as-prepared Co−P based materials were used as heterogeneous catalysts to catalytic reduction of organic molecules (e. g., 4-nitrophenol) at room temperature for the first time. Especially, the Co−P-HT exhibited enhanced catalytic reduction activity by about 3.59 times higher than that of the plate-like cobalt phosphate octahydrate (Co−P-RT). Moreover, Co−P-HT also exhibited excellent catalytic activity than some noble metal-containing materials. In addition, the Co−P-HT could maintain its enhanced catalytic activity after the four successive catalytic test, further confirming the stability of this material. The characterization results demonstrated that the as-prepared Co−P based materials presented distinguishable physicochemical properties, such as different chemical compositions, morphologies, coordination environments and the ability of electrons transfer and distribution. Besides, a formation mechanism of Co−P-HT was purposed in which this material could be obtained from Co−P-RT. The Co−P-HT could be considered as the potential catalyst to substitute some cobalt-based and noble metal-containing materials in mild conditions.