Superior-catalytic performance of Ni–Co layered double hydroxide nanosheets for the reduction of p-nitrophenol

Ni–Co layered double-hydroxides (LDHs), with their lamellar morphology, and higher number of active sites, ensure efficient charge transfer. This makes them extremely useful for catalytic applications. The reported bimetallic LDH can acts as an efficient catalyst for hydrogenation of p-nitrophenol, a toxic and carcinogenic pollutant commonly found in industrial wastewater. In addition to showing the high performance of the catalyst, its facile synthesis protocol is also established. The catalytic performance at higher temperatures is also discussed in details. The obtained results are further extended to explore the advantage of Ni–Co LDH as an electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Thus, these materials are shown to have large-scale industrial use.