Self-supporting hierarchical PdCu aerogels for enhanced catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol.

This work reports a new kind of self-assembled PdCu monolithic aerogels via a mild reduction process, which exhibits highly efficient catalytic reduction activity towards 4-nitrophenol. The enhanced catalytic reduction performance can be contributed the following unique features of PdCu aerogels: 1) the interconnected channels and three-dimensional network provide a platform for accelerating mass transfer during catalysis; 2) metallic aerogels combined with stretching ultrathin nanowires has a large surface area and good crystallinity affording sufficient reactive sites and high atom utilization; 3) the introduction of nonprecious Cu not only drastically cuts down the cost but also attains the excellent catalytic activity due to the bimetallic intrinsic synergetic effect; 4) the self-supporting feature is good for improving the durability of the catalyst. This study pushes a new avenue to develop robust catalysts for heterogeneous catalytic reactions.