Preparation of Pd@nitrogen-doped carbon nanocapsules immobilized on networked carbon microfibers and their enhanced catalytic activity

In this work, polyvinyl alcohol sponge filled with polystyrene nanoparticles was used as template to guide the polymerization of pyrrole monomer with PdCl₂ as oxidant. After calcination, Pd@nitrogen-doped carbon nanocapsules (NCCs) were synthesized on the networked carbon microfibers (NCFs). Pd@NCC/NCF has combined the advantages of one-dimensional carbon microfibers and zero-dimensional nanocapsules together, which not only provided numerous channels for mass diffusion, but also possessed high surface area. In catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol, it displayed better catalytic activity than corresponding counterparts prepared without filling polystyrene nanoparticles.