Herein, we report the preparation of magnetic CoFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles and CoFe 2 O 4 /graphene oxide (GO) hybrids and evaluate their catalytic activity as heterogeneous peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activators for the decomposition of rhodamine B. The surface morphologies and structures of both CoFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles and CoFe 2 O 4 /GO hybrids were investigated by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms. The magnetic properties of the samples were assessed using a SQUID magnetometer at 298 K. Catalytic oxidation experiments demonstrated that CoFe 2 O 4 /GO hybrids exhibited much better catalytic activity than CoFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles or CoFe 2 O 4 /reduced graphene oxide (rGO) hybrids, suggesting that GO plays an important role in CoFe 2 O 4 /GO hybrids in the decomposition of rhodamine B. The influence of various reaction conditions such as temperature, concentration of PMS, pH and decomposition time of rhodamine B over the CoFe 2 O 4 /GO catalyst were investigated and optimized. The rhodamine B degradation process was found to fit a pseudo-first order kinetics model. The catalyst could be easily separated from the reaction mixture by applying an external magnet. In particular, the as-prepared CoFe 2 O 4 /GO hybrid exhibited good reusability and stability in successive degradation experiments in PMS solution.

Background Silver orthophosphate (Ag3PO4) has received enormous attention over the past few years for its higher visible light photocatalytic performance as well as for various organic pollutants degradation in aqueous media. Therefore, considerable efforts have been made to the synthesis of Ag3PO4 with high catalytic efficiency, long lifetime, and using low-cost inorganic precursors. Results This article describes our efforts to develop a novel approach to synthesize of nanostructured silver phosphate (Ag3PO4) using phosphate rock as alternative and natural source of PO43− precursor ions. The catalytic experimental studies showed that the nanostructured Ag3PO4 exhibited excellent catalytic activity for reduction of p-nitrophenol in the presence of NaBH4 at room temperature. Furthermore, the antibacterial studies revealed that the obtained Ag3PO4 possess significant effect against E. Coli and S. Aureus bacteria. Conclusion The obtained results make the nanostructured Ag3PO4 prepared from natural phosphate as a highly promising candidate to be used as efficient catalyst and antibacterial agent. Graphic Abstract

Nanostructured palladium pyrophosphate (Na2PdP2O7) catalyst was synthesized and well characterized by using different techniques (TGA, XRD, SEM, TEM....). This nanocatalyst exhibited excellent catalytic activity in the synthesis of biaryl compounds via Suzuki‐Miyaura cross‐coupling to produce their corresponding products in good to excellent yields under mild conditions. The catalyst is recyclable and was recycled for four runs for the reaction of 4‐bromoacetophenone with phenylboronic acid without appreciable loss of its catalytic activity.

In this paper, a novel approach was successfully developed for preparing nanostructured Ag3PO4 using Moroccan phosphate as a source for phosphorus precursor. The as-synthetized nanomaterial was characterized using various techniques. A pure crystalline Ag3PO4 phase was obtained after drying, exhibiting a mesoporous structure with specific surface area of 35 m2 g− 1. The use of this simple, environmentally friendly, and inexpensive procedure can be useful for the development of nanostructured Ag3PO4 catalyst with excellent catalytic activity for reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol in the presence of NaBH4 as reducing agent. Furthermore, the Ag3PO4 material was also used as an antibacterial agent against Escherichia-coli and Staphylococcus-aureus bacteria.