Abstract
Catalysts are involved in a number of established and emerging chemical processes as well as in environmental remediation and energy conversion. Nanoparticles (NPs) can offer several advantages over some conventional catalysts, such as higher efficiency and selectivity. Nowadays, versatile and scalable nanocatalysts that combine activity and stability are still lacking. Here, we report a comprehensive investigation on the production and characterization of hybrid nano-architectures bringing a partial or total bare surface together with their catalytic efficiency evaluation on, as a proof-of-concept, the formic acid decomposition reaction. In this regard, formic acid (FA) is a convenient and safe hydrogen carrier with appealing features for mobile applications, fuel cells technologies, petrochemical processes and energetic applications. Thus, the design of robust catalysts for FA dehydrogenation is strongly demanded. Due to this, we produced and evaluated nano-architectures with various equilibrium between the size-increase of the active part and the barer catalytic surface. Overall, this work paves the way for the development of new approaches for green energy storage and safe delivery.
Highlights
One of the main fields in which engineered nanomaterials demonstrate their potential is in catalysis [1,2,3,4]
The hybrid nano-architectures bringing a partial or total bare surface have been comprehensively characterized and their efficiency over the formic acid (FA) decomposition compared. This systematic work paves the way for the rational design of a low-cost versatile family of heterogeneous hybrid nanocatalysts for green energy storage and safe delivery of hydrogen
The polymer arrays are purified by centrifugation and employed in a Stöber reaction to form the silica shell
Summary
One of the main fields in which engineered nanomaterials demonstrate their potential is in catalysis [1,2,3,4]. It is worth to remember that the FA dehydration requires a CO resistant catalyst as gold because it shows better resistance to deactivation and poisoning with respect to Pt or Ru [13] In this regard, we have employed as a first approach to the FA decomposition the passion fruit-like nano-architecture (NAs) [14]. Nanomaterials with size-increased and bare active parts have been produced, the MultiCore (mc) and SingleCore (sc) NAs, thanks to polymers burning and ultrasmall metal NPs melting and re-condensation. The hybrid nano-architectures bringing a partial or total bare surface have been comprehensively characterized and their efficiency over the FA decomposition compared This systematic work paves the way for the rational design of a low-cost versatile family of heterogeneous hybrid nanocatalysts for green energy storage and safe delivery of hydrogen
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