Taming the stability of Pd active phases through a compartmentalizing strategy toward nanostructured catalyst supports

Xinwei Yang; Qing Li; Erjun Lu; Zhiqiang Wang; Xueqing Gong; Zhiyang Yu; Yun Guo; Li Wang; Yanglong Guo; Wangcheng Zhan; Jinshui Zhang; Sheng Dai

doi:10.1038/s41467-019-09662-4

Taming the stability of Pd active phases through a compartmentalizing strategy toward nanostructured catalyst supports

Nat Commun. 2019 Apr 8;10(1):1611. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-09662-4.

Authors

Xinwei Yang¹, Qing Li¹, Erjun Lu², Zhiqiang Wang¹, Xueqing Gong¹, Zhiyang Yu², Yun Guo¹, Li Wang¹, Yanglong Guo¹, Wangcheng Zhan³, Jinshui Zhang⁴, Sheng Dai^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials and Research Institute of Industrial Catalysis, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, 130 Meilong Road, 200237, Shanghai, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Photocatalysis on Energy and Environment College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, 350116, Fuzhou, China.
³ Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials and Research Institute of Industrial Catalysis, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, 130 Meilong Road, 200237, Shanghai, China. zhanwc@ecust.edu.cn.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Photocatalysis on Energy and Environment College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, 350116, Fuzhou, China. jinshui.zhang@fzu.edu.cn.
⁵ Chemical Sciences Division Oak Ridge National Laboratory, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA. dais@ornl.gov.
⁶ Department of Chemistry, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA. dais@ornl.gov.

Abstract

The design and synthesis of robust sintering-resistant nanocatalysts for high-temperature oxidation reactions is ubiquitous in many industrial catalytic processes and still a big challenge in implementing nanostructured metal catalyst systems. Herein, we demonstrate a strategy for designing robust nanocatalysts through a sintering-resistant support via compartmentalization. Ultrafine palladium active phases can be highly dispersed and thermally stabilized by nanosheet-assembled γ-Al₂O₃ (NA-Al₂O₃) architectures. The NA-Al₂O₃ architectures with unique flowerlike morphologies not only efficiently suppress the lamellar aggregation and irreversible phase transformation of γ-Al₂O₃ nanosheets at elevated temperatures to avoid the sintering and encapsulation of metal phases, but also exhibit significant structural advantages for heterogeneous reactions, such as fast mass transport and easy access to active sites. This is a facile stabilization strategy that can be further extended to improve the thermal stability of other Al₂O₃-supported nanocatalysts for industrial catalytic applications, in particular for those involving high-temperature reactions.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't