Co nanoparticle decorated and S, N doped porous carbon synthetized by in situ doping strategy for hydrogenation of 4-nitrophenol

4-Nitrophenol (4-NP), a toxic pollutant, is widely present in the environment and resistant to degradation under natural conditions. In this study, we propose an in situ doping strategy to synthesize cobalt nanoparticle-decorated S, N-doped porous carbon for efficient catalytic reduction of 4-NP. This strategy enables the incorporation of S and N dopants into the ZIF-67 derivative in a simple manner, simultaneously introducing a greater number of mesopores. This approach overcomes the laborious S-doping process and provides additional accessible active sites. The catalyst exhibits remarkably high catalytic activity in the presence of NaBH 4 for the reduction of 4-NP. The kinetic equation for Co@SNPC-10–900 is determined as ln(Ct/C0)= (−1.84331 ± 0.09329)t (R 2 =0.99237). The mass-normalized rate constant is calculated as 147.46 min -1 mg -1, which is the highest, reported among similar catalysts in the literature. Furthermore, this strategy is cost-effective and serves as a valuable reference for the development of highly active catalysts.