Preparation and Enhanced Catalytic Hydrogenation Activity of Sb/Palygorskite (PAL) Nanoparticles.

A Sb/palygorskite (PAL) composite was synthesized by a facile solvothermal process and applied in catalytic hydrogenation of p-nitrophenol for the first time. It was found that the Sb nanoparticles with the sizes of 2-5 nm were well dispersed on the fiber of PAL, while partial aggregated Sb nanoparticles with sizes smaller than 200 nm were also loaded on the PAL. The Sb/PAL composite with 9.7% Sb mass amounts showed outstanding catalytic performance by raising the p-nitrophenol conversion rate to 88.3% within 5 min, which was attributed to the synergistical effect of Sb and PAL nanoparticles facilitating the adsorption and catalytic hydrogenation of p-nitrophenol.