Nitrobenzene

Nitrobenzene (+99%), 1,4-diNitrobenzene (+98%), 4-chloroaniline (+98%) and naphthalene (+99%) were purchased from Acros Organics Co.; 3-Nitroaniline (+98%) was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich Chemistry Co.; 2-Chlorophenol (+99%), 4-chlorophenol (+99%), 2-chloroaniline (+98%), 2-nitroaniline (+99%) and 4-methylaniline (+99.7%) were purchased from Aladdin Reagent Co.; 4-MethylNitrobenzene (+99.5%), 4-chlosroNitrobenzene (+98%), phenanthrene (+98%) and pyrene (+97%) were purchased from Fluka Chemistry Co.; 1,2-DiNitrobenzene (+98%), 1,3-dinitro benzene (+99%) and 1,3,5-triNitrobenzene (wetted with 40% water) were purchased from Tokyo Chemical Industry Co.; 2,4-Dichlorophenol (+99.5%), 4-methylphenol (+98%), 2-nitrophenol (+99%), 3-nitrophenol (+99%), 4-nitrophenol (+99.5%) and 4-nitroaniline (+99.5%) were purchased from Sinopharm Chemical Reagent Co.; Aniline (+99.5%) was purchased from Shanghai Reagent Co.; and phenol (+99.7%) was purchased from Hangzhou Shuanglin Chemical Co. All these aromatic chemicals were used as received. The selected properties including water solubility (S_w), octanol-water partitioning coefficients (logK_ow), molecular weight, maximum absorption wavelength (λ_max), dissociated constant (pK_a) of the 25 investigated aromatic chemicals are listed in Table S3.

The cobalt ferrite and nickel ferrite catalyst supports were synthetized from the following precursors: cobalt(II) nitrate hexahydrate, Co(NO₃)₂∙6H₂O, MW: 291.03 g/mol (Sigma-Aldrich, Saint Louis, MO 63103, USA); nickel(II) nitrate hexahydrate, Ni(NO₃)₂∙6H₂O, MW: 290.79 g/mol (Thermo Fisher GmbH, D-76870 Kandel, Germany); iron(III) nitrate nonahydrate, Fe(NO₃)₃∙9H₂O (VWR International, Leuven, Belgium); ethylene glycol, HOCH₂CH₂OH, (VWR Int. Ltd., F-94126 Fontenay-sous-Bois, France); monoethanolamine, NH₂CH₂CH₂OH (Merck KGaA, D-64271 Darmstadt, Germany); and sodium acetate, CH₃COONa (ThermoFisher GmbH, D-76870 Kandel, Germany). Palladium(II) nitrate dihydrate, Pd(NO₃)₂·2H₂O (Alfa Aesar Ltd., Ward Hill, MA 01835, USA) was used to deposit Pd onto the ferrite catalyst supports. Nitrogen (purity 4.0, Messer) and hydrogen (purity 4.0, Messer) were used during the experiments. Nitrobenzene (NB, Acros Organics, Morris Plains, NJ 07950, USA) was used as reactant during the catalytic hydrogenation tests. The analytical standards applied (azobenzene, nitrosobenzene, N-methylaniline) were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich Co. (St. Louis, MO 63118, USA).

For the preparation of the carbon-based foam, 4-nitroaniline (Alfa Aesar GmbH, 76185 Karlsruhe, Germany) and sulfuric acid (95 wt%, VWR Intern. S.A.S, F-94126 Fontanay-sous-Bois, France) were used. Carbon dioxide was used to activate the prepared foam (Gourmet, Messer). Palladium(II) nitrate dihydrate (Pd(NO₃)₂*2H₂O, Alfa Aesar Ltd., Ward Hill, 01835 MA, USA) was applied to deposit Pd onto the carbon foil support. Nitrogen (purity 4.0, Messer) and hydrogen (purity 4.0, Messer) were used during the experiments. Nitrobenzene (NB, Acros Organics, Fair Lawn, 07950 NJ, USA) was used as reactant during the catalytic hydrogenation tests. The applied analytical standards (azobenzene, nitrosobenzene, N-methylaniline) were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich Co. (St. Louis, 63118 MO, USA).