Based on a bio-inspiration polydopamine reaction platform, hollow Ag/carbon microporous spheres were facilely prepared through a template-assisted method. The hollow Ag/carbon spheres, with a uniform shell thickness of 30 nm and a high Ag loading, show high catalytic activity for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol by NaBH4 to 4-aminophenol. It is found that the 4-nitrophenol (10 mL, 1 × 10−3 M) can be completely converted to 4-aminophenol in 2 min by adding 20 mg of hollow Ag/carbon catalysts. The catalytic activity of the hollow Ag/carbon microporous spheres is also confirmed by CO oxidation. At 200 °C, 100% CO conversions can be achieved by using hollow Ag/carbon microporous spheres as catalysts, which is promising to replace other noble metal catalysts in metal catalyzed reactions.
