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Abstract: Zeolite encapsulated metal nanoparticle catalysts hold great promise for several green and sustainable processes, ranging from environmental remediation to renewable energy and biomass conversion. In particular, the microporous zeolite framework keeps the nanoparticles in a firm grip that can control selectivity and prevent sintering at high temperatures. While progress in the synthesis of mesoporous zeolites continues, the encapsulation of metal nanoparticles remains a challenge that often requires complex procedures and expensive additives. Here, we report a general method to encapsulate both base and noble metal nanoparticles inside the internal voids of a compartmentalized mesoporous zeolite prepared by carbon templating and steam-assisted recrystallization. This results in a remarkable shell-like morphology that facilitates the formation of small metal nanoparticles upon simple impregnation and reduction. When the materials are applied in catalysis, we for instance demonstrate that zeolite encapsulated Ni nanoparticles are highly active, selective and stable catalysts for CO2 methanation (49% conversion with 93% selectivity at 450°C). A reaction where catalysts often suffer from sintering due to the high reaction temperatures. While the introduction of Ni nanoparticles prior to the steam-assisted recrystallization results in the formation of inactive nickel phyllosilicates, noble metals such as Pt do not suffer from this limitation. Therefore, we also demonstrate the synthesis of an active catalyst prepared by the formation of Pt nanoparticles prior to the shell synthesis. We tested the zeolite encapsulated Pt nanoparticles for hydrogenation of linear and cyclic alkenes with increased chain length. The catalysts are active for hydrogenation of oct-1-ene (66% conversion) and cyclooctene (79% conversion) but inactive for the large cyclododecane (<1% conversion), which show that this type of catalyst is highly selective in size selective catalysis. All catalysts are characterized by XRD, TEM, XPS and N2 physisorption.

Open Access

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Abstract: Unsupported and SiO 2 ‐supported Ni nanoparticles (NPs), were synthesised via hot‐injection colloidal route using oleylamine (OAm) and trioctylphosphine (TOP) as reducing and protective agents, respectively. By adopting a multi‐length scale structural characterization, it was found that by changing equivalents of OAM and TOP not only the size of the nanoparticles is affected but also the Ni electronic structure. The synthetized NPs were modified with ( R , R )‐tartaric acid (TA) and investigated in the asymmetric hydrogenation of methyl acetoacetate to chiral methyl‐3‐hydroxy butyrate. The comparative analysis of structure and catalytic performance for the synthetized catalysts has enabled us to identify a Ni metallic active surface, whereby the activity increases with the size of the metallic domains. Conversely, at the high conversion obtained for the unsupported NPs there was no impact of particle size on the selectivity. ( R )‐selectivity was very high only on catalysts containing positively charged Ni species such as over the SiO 2 ‐supported NiO NPs. This work shows that the chiral modification of metallic Ni NPs with TA is insufficient to maintain high selectivity towards the ( R )‐enantiomer at long reaction time and provide guidance for the engineering of long‐term stable enantioselective catalysts.

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Abstract: The catalytic activities of supported metal nanoparticles can be tuned by appropriate design of synthesis strategies. Each step in a catalyst synthesis method can play an important role in preparing the most efficient catalyst. Here we report the careful manipulation of the post-synthetic heat treatment procedure—together with control over the metal loading—to prepare a highly efficient 0.2 wt% Pt/TiO2 catalyst for the chemoselective hydrogenation of 3-nitrostyrene. For Pt/TiO2 catalysts with 0.2 and 0.5 wt% loading levels, reduction at 450 °C induces the coverage of TiOx over Pt nanoparticles through a strong metal–support interaction, which is detrimental to their catalytic activities. However, this can be avoided by following calcination treatment with reduction (both at 450 °C), allowing us to prepare an exceptionally active catalyst. Detailed characterization has revealed that the peripheral sites at the Pt/TiO2 interface are the most likely active sites for this hydrogenation reaction.

Open Access

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Abstract: N2O is an extremely potent greenhouse gas that has been shown to have devastating effects on the atmosphere. There are many natural and anthropogenic sources of N2O emissions, such as oceans, atmospheric chemical reactions, industrial chemical processes, by-product from fuel combustion, and contributions from the agricultural sector. Therefore a catalyst that converts N2O into N2 and O2 at low temperatures is highly desirable. Throughout this thesis the common aim is to produce a catalyst that can decompose N2O at temperatures lower than 300 °C. Three different classes of catalysts were investigated in this thesis, the first is a Fe-ZSM-5 catalyst. The work focusses on the effect of different Fe species in Fe-ZSM-5 for the decomposition of N2O in the presence and absence of a reductant, propane. The effect of Si:Al ratio and Fe weight loading was initially investigated before focussing on a single weight loading and the effects of acid washing on catalyst activity and iron speciation. The second class of catalysts were based on Pd-Al2O3 with the focus being on the importance of surface species and particle size of Pd for the decomposition of N2O. The effect of removal of surface species such as water and chloride ions were investigated by different catalyst pre-treatments and support pre-treatments. Through pre-treatment of the catalyst support prior to metal deposition, catalytic activity significantly increased, resulting in a decrease of the T100 by 150 °C to 400 °C. The third class of catalysts studied were a range of perovskite structured materials. Most notably studying how the surface area, phase purity and oxygen species present effected the catalytic activity. The factors were investigated by changing the ratio of elements in the A and B sites, which lead to increased perovskite purities requiring lower calcination temperatures leading to higher surface areas. The ratios that produced the highest phase purity were prepared by two alternative preparation method to the original citric acid preparation, supercritical anti-solvent preparation and oxalic acid preparation.

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Abstract: The hydrogenation of levulinic acid (LA) to γ-valerolactone (GVL) is a key reaction for the production of renewable chemicals and fuels, wherein acid-resistant and robust catalysts are highly desired for practical usage. Herein, an ultra-stable 0.6 wt% Ir@ZrO2@C single-atom catalyst was prepared via an in-situ synthesis approach during the assembly of UiO-66, followed by confined pyrolysis. The Ir@ZrO2@C offered not only a quantitative LA conversion and an excellent GVL selectivity (>99%), but also an unprecedented stability during recycling runs under harsh conditions (at T = 453 K, PH2 = 40 bar in pH = 3 or pH = 1 aqueous solution). By thorough spectroscopy characterizations, a well-defined structure of atomically dispersed Irδ+ atoms onto nano-tetragonal ZrO2 confined in the amorphous carbon was identified for the Ir@ZrO2@C. The strong metal-support interaction and the confinement of the amorphous carbon account for the ultra-stability of the Ir@ZrO2@C.