Hydrogenation of nitrobenzene to aniline catalyzed by C60-stabilized Ni

The C60-stabilized Ni catalyst, denoted as Ni/C60, was prepared by regular impregnation following the chemical reduction and employed to catalyze hydrogenation of nitrobenzene. The characterizations suggested that reductants, NaBH4 amount and nickel precursor influenced metallic Ni concentration on surface of catalyst, and C60 improved the dispersion of Ni and reduced the electron density of metallic Ni. The nitrobenzene conversion and the aniline selectivity both reached above 99.9% over Ni/C60, within 40 min under 90 °C and 2 MPa of H2. C60 improved the aniline selectivity and enhanced the stability of Ni/C60 ascribed to its hydrophobicity.