Highly loaded and remarkably dispersed silver nanoparticles into the radial nanochannels of dendritic supported catalysts with stable robust performances

As for supported noble metal catalysts, the aggregation, leaching, and migration of the noble metals are fatal to their catalytic performances. Up to now, it is still challengeable to not only highly load and finely disperse noble metal nanopartcicles (NPs) onto the support platforms, but also maintain the physicochemical state of the already anchored NPs. Herein, for the first time, we have found that hybrid dendritic mesoporous silica&titania nanospheres (DMSTNs) and the coupled mercapto groups (–SH) on their surface could remarkably load and disperse ultrafine silver (Ag) NPs simultaneously. The as-prepared DMSTNs-SH-Ag composite catalyst exhibits more superior abilities for photocatalytic water splitting, p -nitrophenol reduction without light irritation, and antibacteria, in comparison to pure dendritic mesoporous silica nanospheres (DMSNs)-based catalysts like DMSNs-SH-Ag or amino groups (–NH 2 ) functionalized ones (e.g., DMSTNs-NH 2 -Ag and DMSNs-NH 2 -Ag). The improvement can be attributed to the unique physicochemical and structural advantages of DMSTNs-SH supports that bring about desirable loading and dispersion of Ag NPs, the decreased recombination rate of the photo-generated electron–hole pair, the longer route of electron migration, etc. DMSTNs-SH-Ag also exhibit stable recycling and leaching-resistant abilities. The access to DMSTNs-SH-Ag is simple, facile, and economical, which could be versatile for anchoring other noble metals as well theoretically.