Preparation of magnetic Fe3O4/P (GMA-DVB)-PEI/Pd highly efficient catalyst with core-shell structure

In this paper, a simple route for palladium (Pd) nanoparticles attached to the surface of hollow magnetic Fe3O4/P (GMA-DVB)-polyethyleneimine (PEI) microspheres was established. Due to the large amount of imidogen groups and tertiary amine groups presenting in the PEI, Pd2+ ions could be anchored to the support by complexation with a polyfunctional organic ligand. Thereafter, a magnetic Pd catalyst having a high loading amount and good dispersibility was obtained by reducing Pd2+ ions. Afterwards, the prepared catalyst was characterized by TEM, SEM, FTIR, XRD, TGA, VSM, and UV-vis in detail. Ultimately, their catalytic activity was evaluated using the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP). Research showed that the Fe3O4/P (GMA-DVB)-PEI/Pd catalyst possessed high catalytic performances for the reduction of 4-NP with a conversion rate of 98.43% within 540 s. Furthermore, the catalyst could be easily recovered and reused at least for nine successive cycles.