Preparation of magnetic Fe3O4/P (GMA‐DVB)‐PEI/Pd highly efficient catalyst with core‐shell structure

In this paper, a simple route for palladium (Pd) nanoparticles attached to the surface of hollow magnetic Fe₃O₄/P (GMA‐DVB)‐polyethyleneimine (PEI) microspheres was established. Due to the large amount of imidogen groups and tertiary amine groups presenting in the PEI, Pd²⁺ ions could be anchored to the support by complexation with a polyfunctional organic ligand. Thereafter, a magnetic Pd catalyst having a high loading amount and good dispersibility was obtained by reducing Pd²⁺ ions. Afterwards, the prepared catalyst was characterized by TEM, SEM, FTIR, XRD, TGA, VSM, and UV–vis in detail. Ultimately, their catalytic activity was evaluated using the reduction of 4‐nitrophenol (4‐NP). Research showed that the Fe₃O₄/P (GMA‐DVB)‐PEI/Pd catalyst possessed high catalytic performances for the reduction of 4‐NP with a conversion rate of 98.43% within 540 s. Furthermore, the catalyst could be easily recovered and reused at least for nine successive cycles.