Synthesis and Characterization of Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles Loaded with Pt Catalysts

Xingyi Lyu,Xun Wu,Yuzi Liu,Byeongdu Lee,Tao Li,Wenyu Huang

doi:10.3390/catal12020183

Abstract

Coating the catalyst with a nanoporous layer has been demonstrated to be an effective approach to improve catalyst stability. Herein, we systematically investigate two types of core-shell mesoporous silica nanoparticles with a platinum nanocatalyst using a variety of characterization methods. One of the mesoporous particles has a unique amine ring structure in the middle of a shell (Ring-mSiO2/Pt-5.0/SiO2), and the other one has no ring structure (mSiO2/Pt-5.0/SiO2). Brunauer–Emmett–Teller/Barrett–Joyner–Halenda (BET/BJH) presented a similar surface area for both particles, and the pore size was 2.4 nm. Ultra-Small-Angle X-ray Scattering (USAXS)/ Small-Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS) showed the size of mSiO2/Pt-5.0/SiO2 and Ring-mSiO2/Pt-5.0/SiO2 were 420 nm and 272 nm, respectively. It also showed that the ring structure was 30 nm above the silica core. Using high-resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), it was found that the platinum nanoparticles are loaded evenly on the surface of the silica. In situ SAXS heating experiments and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) indicated that the mSiO2/Pt-5.0/SiO2 were more stable during the high temperature, while the Ring-mSiO2/Pt-5.0/SiO2 had more change in the particle.

Highlights

Since the past century, plastic has played an essential role in people’s daily lives and industry development due to many advantages, such as being economy-friendly, lightweight, and chemical-resistant [1,2,3]
The United States generates approximately 30 million tons of plastic waste each year, most of which goes to landfills, and less than 10% has been recycled [9]
The use of metal catalysts to degrade waste plastics is a promising approach for plastic recycling because this helps to convert those synthetic polymers into useful liquid fuels or other valuable materials [13,14,15]

Summary

Introduction

Plastic has played an essential role in people’s daily lives and industry development due to many advantages, such as being economy-friendly, lightweight, and chemical-resistant [1,2,3]. Mesoporous silica nanoparticles are an excellent candidate to stabilize catalysts.

Results

Conclusion