Ru Clusters Research Articles

Catalytic Ability Comparison of Five Transition Metal Clusters (Zn, Cu, Fe, Ni, and Ru) for Heat‐Induced Graphene Etching by Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Simulations

AbstractGraphene can be widely utilized as a substrate to support various transition metal (TM) nanoclusters or nanoparticles for surfaced‐supported catalysis, such as electrocatalysis or photovoltaics. The subtle interactions between TM and graphene carbon atoms are expected to be crucial in TM–graphene nanocomposites to affect their growth morphologies and final functionalities. Here, the morphology evolution and catalytic ability of five ultrafine TM (Zn, Cu, Fe, Ni, and Ru) clusters with 48 atoms on graphene etching are investigated by using ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations. It is found that three factors, i.e., TM cluster type, operation temperature, and graphene edge type, play important roles in the catalytic behaviors of TM clusters for heat‐induced graphene etching. The results are helpful in locating the catalytic performance of TM clusters in graphene cutting and ensuring stability of TM–graphene nanocomposites in device applications.

Amorphous Ru nanoclusters onto Co-doped 1D carbon nanocages enables efficient hydrogen evolution catalysis

The development of high-performance electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is of great significance for green, sustainable, and renewable energy conversion. Herein, we report the synthesis of amorphous Ru clusters on Co-doped defect -rich hollow carbon nanocage (a-Ru@Co-DHC) as an efficient electrocatalyst for HER in the basic media. Due to the advantages such as high surface area, rich edge defect, atomic Co doping and amorphous Ru clusters, the as-made a-Ru@Co-DHC displays an efficient HER performance with a near-zero onset overpotential, a low Tafel slope (62 mV dec −1 ), a low overpotential of 40 mV at 10 mA cm −2 and high stability, outperforming the commercial Ru nanocrystal/C, commercial Pt/C, and other reported Ru-based catalysts. This work provides a new insight into designing new metal doped carbon nanocages catalysts supported by amorphous nanoclusters for achieving the enhanced electrocatalysis. A novel kind of amorphous Ru clusters@Co-doped defect-rich hollow carbon nanocage (a-Ru@Co-DHC) catalyst has been developed for efficient electrocatalysis of hydrogen evolution reaction in basic media due to synergistic effect of edge defect, atomic Co doping and dispersed amorphous Ru clusters.

The Study on the Active Site Regulated RuOx/Sn0.2Ti0.8O2 Catalysts with Different Ru Precursors for the Catalytic Oxidation of Dichloromethane

Chlorine-containing volatile organic compounds (CVOCs) present in industrial exhaust gas can cause great harm to the human body and the environment. In order to further study the catalytic oxidation of CVOCs, an active site regulated RuOx/Sn0.2Ti0.8O2 catalyst with different Ru precursors was developed. With Dichloromethane as the model molecule, the activity test results showed that the optimization of Ru precursor using Ru colloid significantly increased the activity of the catalyst (T90 was reduced by about 90 °C when the Ru loading was 1 wt%). The analysis of characterization results showed that the improvement of the catalytic performance was mainly due to the improvement of the active species dispersion (the size of Ru cluster was reduced from 3–4 nm to about 1.3 nm) and the enhancement of the interaction between the active species and the support. The utilization efficiency of the active components was improved by nearly doubling TOF value, and the overall oxidation performance of the catalyst was also enhanced. The relationship between the Ru loading and the catalytic activity of the catalyst was also studied to better determine the optimal Ru loading. It could be found that with the increase in Ru loading, the dispersibility of RuOx species on the catalyst surface gradually decreased, despite the increase in their total amount. The combined influence of these two effects led to little change in the catalytic activity of the catalyst at first, and then a significant increase. Therefore, this research is meaningful for the efficient treatment of CVOCs and further reducing the content of active components in the catalysts.

Ru-Catalyzed Reverse Water Gas Shift Reaction with Near-Unity Selectivity and Superior Stability

Cascade catalysis of reverse water gas shift (RWGS) and well-established CO hydrogenation holds promise for the conversion of greenhouse gas CO2 and renewable H2 into liquid hydrocarbons and methanol under mild conditions. However, it remains a big challenge to develop low-temperature RWGS catalysts with high activity, selectivity, and stability. Here, we report the design of an efficient RWGS catalyst by encapsulating ruthenium clusters with the size of 1 nm inside hollow silica shells. The spatially confined structure prevents the sintering of Ru clusters while the permeable silica layer allows the diffusion of gaseous reactants and products. This catalyst with reduced particle sizes not only inherits the excellent activity of Ru in CO2 hydrogenation reactions but also exhibits nearly 100% CO selectivity and superior stability at 200–500 °C. The ability to selectively produce CO from CO2 at relatively low temperatures paves the way for the production of value-added fuels from CO2 and renewable H2.

Ru clusters confined in Hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks for homogeneous catalytic hydrogenation of N-heterocyclic compounds with heterogeneous recyclability

Combining the advantages of homogeneous catalysis and the recyclability of heterogeneous catalysts is highly desired for sustainable catalysis but remains a challenging goal. In the current work, hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs) that consist of cage molecules with amino groups were prepared. The HOFs with heteroatom-containing porous cavities and stable backbone confine ultrafine Ru clusters with diameter of about 0.47 nm and high Ru loading of 30 wt%. The obtained Ru@HOF catalyst can well disperse in water in the form of discrete cage-confined Ru clusters similar to a homogeneous catalyst, and can be recycled easily through simple precipitation by the addition of acetone due to the formation of hydrogen bonds between discrete cages. The Ru@HOF was used as a homogenous catalyst for efficiently selective catalytic hydrogenation of N-heteroarene compounds, such as quinolines and indoles in aqueous solution. Especially quinoline compounds can be fully hydrogenated to decahydroquinoline with Ru@HOF catalyst, which is not easy to be implemented with other Ru nanoparticle-based catalysts. The high catalytic performance of Ru@HOF is attributed to the homogeneously dispersed and accessible active sites of the ultrafine Ru clusters. This study provides a novel strategy for fabricating ultrafine noble metal clusters-based catalysts with homogeneous catalytic performance and heterogeneous recyclability.

Trace oxophilic metal induced surface reconstruction at buried RuRh cluster interfaces possesses extremely fast hydrogen redox kinetics

Developing high-efficiency electrocatalysts is the key to generating and consuming hydrogen by accelerating the reaction kinetics of the hydrogen oxidation and evolution reactions (HOR/HER). Although the kinetics process of the adsorbed intermediates (Had)-water-oxophilic metal has been investigated in the alkaline media, the hydroxyl species (Had or OH- or OHad)-activity relationship for oxophilic metal alloy electrocatalysis during multiple HOR and HER processes is still unclear. In this regard, our density functional theory (DFT) calculation results show that, due to partial substitution of Ru (Rh) clusters at buried interfaces by oxophilic-metal (OM) species, the long-range order of Ru (Rh) clusters surface atoms can be broken, and then the active atom reconstruction at buried interfaces is triggered, which decreases the oxidation intermediates of Ru (Rh) and gives rise to the increased activity for alkaline HER/HOR. At the same time, an OH--adsorption promoter forms, also favorable for OER. Encouraged by the first-principles calculation results, an ultralow-loaded OM species (0.13 wt% Co, 0.23 wt% Mn, 2.4 wt% Cr or 1.3 wt% Fe) incorporated RuRh cluster (RuRh-OM) catalyst is built by a mixed-solvent strategy. Impressively, after incorporating OM (Co; Mn; Cr and Fe), these catalysts exhibit higher HOR activity than pristine RuRh and commercial Pt even at higher potentials in 0.1 M KOH solutions, which outperforms most reported HOR catalysts and ~ 2 times higher than that of commercial Pt. Meanwhile, RuRh-Co also exhibits the highest HER activity among all reported Ru-based HER catalysts, and greatly improved OER and overall water spitting performances in alkaline solutions (1 M KOH for HER and overall water spitting, 0.1 M KOH for OER), exceeding RuRh and commercial noble metal catalysts.

Regulating the Coordination Environment of Ruthenium Cluster Catalysts for the Alkaline Hydrogen Evolution Reaction.

Exploring high-efficiency catalysts for the electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline environments is attractive but remains challenging. Here we report a coordination regulation strategy to tune the atomic structure of Ru cluster catalysts supported on Ti3C2Tx MXene (Ru-Ti3C2Tx) for the HER. We identify that the coordination number (CN) of Ru-Ru could be slightly regulated from 2.1 to 2.8 by adjusting the synthesized temperature so as to achieve an optimal catalytic configuration. The Ru-Ti3C2Tx with a CNRu-Ru of 2.8 exhibits the best catalytic activity with a low overpotential of 96 mV at 10 mA cm-2 and a mass activity about 11.5 times greater than the commercial Pt/C catalyst. Density functional theory calculations demonstrated that the small Ru clusters have a stronger covalent interaction with Ti3C2Tx support leading to an optimal ΔGH* value. This work opens up a general avenue to modulate the coordination environment of catalysts for the HER.

Well‐Dispersed Ru‐Clusters Decorating Nanobox‐Structured CoP Synergistically Catalyze the NaBH4 Hydrolysis and Electro‐Reductive H2 Evolution

AbstractThe high‐efficiency multifunctional materials have considerable significance in the area of sustainable energy to developing a cross‐usable and low‐cost catalyst. Nevertheless, substantial challenges are ahead on designing and synthesizing a high performance in a scalable and straightforward manner. Here, we have developed a novel bifunctional catalyst based on Ru/CoP nanoboxes (NBs) prepared using ZIF‐67 as a precursor. The nano hollow box structure and the strong electronic interaction between Ru clusters and CoP component are confirmed. The Ru/CoP NBs as a catalyst show excellent activities for catalytic NaBH4 hydrolysis such as high turnover frequency (1202.2 min−1), and small electrocatalytic H2 evolution overpotential (49 mV@10 mA cm−2) under ambient conditions. Besides, Ru/CoP NBs also display good stability and reusability. The excellent catalytic performance of Ru/CoP NBs is attributed to the synergy between Ru clusters and CoP species as well as the unique morphology that accelerates charge transfer, provides higher active surface area, and facilitates solute transport and gas emission.

Hyperbolic K-means for traffic-aware clustering in cloud and virtualized RANs

As the internet and connected objects gain more and more in popularity, serving the ever-increasing data traffic becomes a challenge for the mobile operators. The traditional cellular radio access network (RAN), where each base station is co-located with its own processing unit and is responsible for a specific geographic area, has evolved first with the so-called Cloud RAN (C-RAN), and is currently undergoing further architectural evolution under the virtualized RAN (vRAN), Software-Defined RAN (SD-RAN), and Open RAN (O-RAN) architectures. In all these versions, the data processing units can be dynamically centralized into a pool and shared between several base stations, enlarging the geographical view for scheduling and resource allocation algorithms. For instance, resource utilization is improved by avoiding resource idling during off-peak hours. C-RAN and vRAN gains depend strongly on the clustering scheme of radio units (RRHs and RUs). In this paper, we propose a novel radio clustering algorithm that takes into account both the traffic demand and the position of stations, by using the hyperbolic distance in 3-dimensions. We introduce a modified K-means clustering algorithm, called Hyperbolic K-means, and show that this generates geographically compact RU clusters with traffic charge equally shared among them. Application of our algorithm on real-world mobile data traffic, collected from the cities of Nantes and Lille in France, shows an increase in resource utilization by 25%, and a reduction in deployment cost by 15%, compared to the standard RAN. Furthermore, the performance of our Hyperbolic K-means algorithm is compared extensively against alternative C-RAN clustering proposals from the literature and is shown to outperform them, in resource utilization as well as in cost reduction.

Ru surface density effect on ammonia synthesis activity and hydrogen poisoning of ceria-supported Ru catalysts

Evaluating the effect of metal surface density on catalytic performance is critical for designing high-activity metal-based catalysts. In this study, a series of ceria (CeO2)-supported Ru catalysts (Ru/CeO2) were prepared to analyze the effect of Ru surface density on the catalytic performance of Ru/CeO2 for ammonia synthesis. For the Ru/CeO2 catalysts with Ru surface densities lower than 0.68 Ru nm−2, the Ru layers were in close contact with CeO2, and electrons were transferred directly from the CeO2 defect sites to the Ru species. In such cases, the adsorption of hydrogen species on the Ru sites in the vicinity of O atoms was high, leading to a high ammonia synthesis activity and strong hydrogen poisoning. In contrast, the preferential aggregation of Ru species into large particles on top of the Ru overlayer resulted in the coexistence of Ru clusters and particles, for catalysts with a Ru surface density higher than 1.4 Ru nm−2, for which Ru particles were isolated from the direct electronic influence of CeO2. Consequently, the Ru−CeO2 interactions were weak, and hydrogen poisoning can be significantly alleviated. Overall, electron transfer and hydrogen adsorption synergistically affected the synthesis of ammonia over Ru/CeO2 catalysts, and catalyst samples with a Ru surface density lower than 0.31 Ru nm−2 or exactly 2.1 Ru nm−2 exhibited high catalytic activity for ammonia synthesis.

Interfacial Electronic Coupling of NC@WO3 -W2 C Decorated Ru Clusters as a Reversible Catalyst toward Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Oxidation and Evolution Reactions.

Designing a bifunctional catalyst for hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is significant toward developing sustainable hydrogen-electric conversion systems. Herein, a cost-effective bifunctional catalyst, Ru/N-doped Carbon@WO3 -W2 C (Ru/NC@WOC), was developed via co-precipitation and polyol reduction. Ru/NC@WOC showed superior HOR/HER activity in alkaline solution in comparison with commercial Pt/C. HOR electrochemical tests showed that the mass activity at 0.05 V (1.96 ) and exchange-current density were 7.5 and 1.2 times that of Pt/C. Additionality, Ru/NC@WOC exhibited up 30-fold HOR activity in mass activity compared with benchmark Ru/C. Moreover, it also displayed exceptional electrocatalytic HER with overpotentials of 31 mV at 10 mA cm-2 and 119 mV at 100 mA cm-2 , surpassing Pt/C, benchmark Ru/C, and most of the previously reported electrocatalysts. The outstanding catalytic activity of Ru/NC@WOC probably arises from the synergy between Ru and NC@WOC matrix, suitable hydrogen binding energy, and highly conductive substrate. Thus, this work may pave a new avenue to fabricate low-cost bifunctional HOR/HER catalysts for alkaline fuel cells and water electrolyzer.

Synergistic Coupling of Nickel Boride with Ru Cluster as a Highly Active Multifunctional Electrocatalyst for Overall Water Splitting and Glucose Electrolysis

AbstractThe development of highly active electrocatalysts is of great importance toward the practical applications of many meaningful electrocatalytic reactions. In this paper, the synthesis and electrocatalytic properties of a multifunctional ruthenium nickel boride hybrid electrocatalyst are reported for the first time. Compared to pristine nickel boride (Ni‐B) and Ru electrocatalysts, Ru@Ni‐B with trace Ru loading amount of 0.133 mg cm−2 prepared by a simple wet chemical method, shows remarkably improved activity toward the hydrogen evolution reaction, the oxygen evolution reaction, and the glucose oxidation reaction. The electrolytic cell assembled with Ru@Ni‐B/nickel foam electrode as both cathode and anode can deliver 10 mA cm−2 at only 1.42 V for alkaline overall water splitting and 1.24 V for glucose electrolysis. It is further found that the synergistic coupling of ruthenium with nickel boride plays an important role in the superior performance of the hybrid electrocatalyst.

Coordinatively unsaturated aluminum anchored Ru cluster for catalytic hydrogenation of benzene

The design and synthesis of highly dispersed metal catalyst have attracted increasing attention, and it is still challenging to generate stable metal clusters with high metal loadings. Support plays a crucial role in determining particle morphology and dispersion. Herein, we demonstrate a strategy for synthesizing an amorphous alumina with 62% Al3+penta sites (penta-coordinated Al3+) via solution combustion synthesis. It provides sufficient oxygen defects to anchor Ru species. For benzene hydrogenation reaction, the catalyst displays the high TOF (18833 h−1), which is about 2 times higher than that of catalysts supported on commercial alumina. The DFT calculations also confirm that the high catalytic performance is closely correlated with the special configuration of Ru active sites over coordinatively unsaturated alumina. The penta-coordinated Al3+ was also applied to prepare Pd catalyst with high dispersion. This work provides a superior support which possesses abundant Al3+penta sites and affords a possibility for the generation of high and stable dispersion for the preparation of supported metal catalysts.

Adsorption of the NO2, N2O and NH3 molecules over the C20 and MC19 (M = Ru, Ir and Au) clusters: A DFT approach

In this work, we used the DFT calculations with the B3LYP functional to evaluate the adsorption of the NO2, N2O and NH3 molecules over the surface of the C20 and MC19 (M = Ru, Ir and Au) clusters. The results reveal that the N2O and NH3 molecules are physically adsorbed onto the C20 surface, while the NO2 molecule was strongly chemisorbed with an adsorption energy equal to - 45.0 kcal mol−1. The change in Eg of C20 nanocage after adsorption process is very small, indicating a low sensitivity of C20 to the above molecules. When a carbon atom is replaced by a metal (Ru, Ir or Au) atom, the relative stability of RuC19 and AuC19 clusters was improved, and in turn the stability of the IrC19 cluster was decreased, thereby its activity was sharply enhanced in comparison with that of C20 fullerene. It was found that the interaction of NO2 molecule with the metal-doped C20 clusters is very strong, implying a great chemisorption process. The results show also that the interaction of the N2O molecule over the surface of the IrC19 cluster leads to the dissociation of the N2O molecule into O* and N2 with an adsorption energy of - 49.4 kcal mol−1. This suggests that this cluster could be employed as an active and efficient nanocatalyst for the N2O decomposition reaction. In contrast, the N2O was associatively adsorbed on the AuC19 cluster with Eads less than - 10 kcal mol−1, indicating a physical adsorption. Large variation in Eg was observed for the AuC19 cluster upon their interaction with the NO2, N2O and NH3 molecules, which leads to a significant increase in its electrical conductivity. So, the AuC19 cluster has a great electronic sensitivity toward the above molecules, reflecting that this cluster could be described as a promising nanosensor for the detection of the N2O, NO2 and NH3 molecules. Moreover, in this study, the NLO properties of the clusters and their formed complexes by interaction with the above molecules were calculated and discussed. The solvent effect (water) onto the electronic and adsorption properties of the formed complexes has also been examined in depth.

Construction of Spatial Effect from Atomically Dispersed Co Anchoring on Subnanometer Ru Cluster for Enhanced N2-to-NH3 Conversion

Simultaneously achieving a low activation barrier with weak binding of intermediates on a heterogeneous catalyst for the enhancement of catalytic performance under mild conditions remains a great c...

Author Correction: Lattice-confined Ru clusters with high CO tolerance and activity for the hydrogen oxidation reaction

Author Correction: Lattice-confined Ru clusters with high CO tolerance and activity for the hydrogen oxidation reaction

Charge redistribution of Ru nanoclusters on Co3O4 porous nanowire via the oxygen regulation for enhanced hydrogen evolution reaction

Ru-based catalysts are widely studied for hydrogen evolution reaction. However, there is still a lack of research on which chemical environment is more favorable for the catalytic performance of Ru. In this work, Ru nanoclusters are loaded on porous Co 3 O 4 nanowires (Ru/Co 3 O 4 NWs), spherical aberration-corrected transmission electron microscope and extended X-ray absorption fine structure confirm the coordination environment of Ru with oxygen bond. Compare to Co nanowires, Ru/Co 3 O 4 NWs have the better HER performance in alkaline medium (an overpotential of 30.96 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm −2 , electrochemical areas of 4.31 mF cm −2 ). Theoretical calculation also demonstrates the charge redistribution of Ru through the O binding, which has a smaller |ΔG H* | value. Besides, Ru clusters are loaded on Co foam and further oxygen doped to achieve efficient and stable HER activity. This work put a deep insight into the role of oxygen regulation of Ru-based HER catalysts. • Ru/Co 3 O 4 NWs were synthesized through cation replacement and controlling reduction. • The surrounding oxygen promoted the charge redistribution of Ru and enhanced its HER activity. • This oxygen-enhanced strategy provided a cost-effective prospect of industrial application.

Synthesis, Structures, and Transformations of Bridging and Terminally-Coordinated Trimethylammonioalkenyl Ligands in Zwitterionic Pentaruthenium Carbido Carbonyl Complexes.

Reactions of the pentaruthenium cluster complexes Ru5(μ5-C)(CO)15 (5), Ru5(μ5-C)(CO)14[μ-η2-O═C(NMe2)](μ-H) (6), and Ru5(μ5-C)(CO)15Cl(μ-H) (7) with ethyne (C2H2) in the presence of Me3NO yielded the zwitterionic complexes Ru5(μ5-C)(CO)13[μ-η2-CHCH(NMe3)] (8), Ru5(μ5-C)(CO)13[μ-η2-O═C(NMe2)](η1-E-CH═CH(NMe3)(μ-H) (9), and Ru5(μ5-C)(CO)13Cl[η1-E-CH═CH(NMe3)](μ-H) (11). Each product contains a positively charged trimethylammonioethenyl ligand, CH═CH(+NMe3), that is derived from a 2-trimethylammonioethenide, -CH═CH(+NMe3), zwitterion that formally has a positive charge on the nitrogen atom and a negative charge on the terminal enyl carbon atom. The trimethylammonioethenyl ligand, CH═CH(+NMe3) in 8 is a η2-ligand that bridges a Ru-Ru bond on a basal edge of the square-pyramidal Ru5 cluster by a combination of σ + π cooordination of the ethenyl group. Compounds 9 and 11 each contain a η1-terminally coordinated [η1-E-CH═CH(+NMe3)] ligand with an E stereochemistry at the C═C double bond in open Ru5 cluster complexes. Compound 9 was decarbonylated to yield the compound Ru5(μ5-C)(CO)12[μ-η2-O═C(NMe2)][μ-η2-CH═CH(NMe3)](μ-H) (10) containing a η2-bridging CHCH(+NMe3) ligand. Compound 10 was converted back to 9 by the addition of CO. Two zwitterionic products, Ru5(μ5-C)(CO)14[η1-E-CH═CH(NMe3)] (12) and Ru5(μ5-C)(CO)15[η1-E-CH═CH(NMe3)] (13), were obtained by the addition of CO to 8. Compound 12 is an intermediate en route to 13. Compound 12 contains a terminally coordinated η1-E-CH═CH(+NMe3) ligand on one of the basal Ru atoms of a square-pyramidal Ru5 cluster. Compound 13 also contains a terminally coordinated η1-E-CH═CH(+NMe3) ligand on the wing-tip bridging Ru atom of a butterfly Ru4C cluster. Treatment of 6 with methyl propiolate (HC≡CCO2Me) yielded the zwitterionic complex Ru5(μ5-C)(CO)13[μ-η2-O═C(NMe2)][η1-E-(MeO2C)C═C(H)NMe3](μ-H) (14) that is structurally similar to 9 but contains a η1-E-(MeO2C)C═C(H)(+NMe3) ligand. Compound 14 eliminated the NMe3 group to yield the compounds Ru5(μ5-C)(CO)13[μ-η2-O═C(NMe2)][μ-η2-(MeO2C)HC═CH] (15) which contains a bridging methoxycarbonyl-substituted alkenyl ligand and the known compound Ru5(μ5-C)(CO)13[μ-η2-O═C(NMe2)](HNMe2)(μ-H) (16).

Shaggy-like Ru-clusters decorated core-shell metal-organic framework-derived CoOx@NPC as high-efficiency catalyst for NaBH4 hydrolysis

Achieving high catalytic performance with the lowest possible amount of noble metal is critical for any catalytic applications. Herein, we report a controllable method of preparing low Ru loaded, N-doped porous carbon embedded with cobalt oxide species (Ru/CoOx@NPC) using core-shell metal-organic framework (MOF) as a template. The optimized catalyst exhibits a highly powerful yet stable performance of H2 production through sodium borohydride (NaBH4) hydrolysis. The Ru/CoOx@NPC catalyst shows a fast H2 generation rate (8019.5 mL min−1 gcat−1), high turnover frequency (1118.6 mol min−1 molRu−1), and reusability. The carbonized ZIF-8 core and the ZIF-67 outer shell supplies a porous carbon moiety that not only improves the conductivity and but also provides uniform distribution of the active sites. The XPS analysis indicates that there is a strong electronic interaction between Co species and Ru species. The superior catalytic performance can be attributable to the large specific surface area as well as the synergy between Co-oxide and Ru clusters.

Towards the Circular Economy: Converting Aromatic Plastic Waste Back to Arenes over a Ru/Nb2O5 Catalyst

AbstractThe upgrading of plastic waste is one of the grand challenges for the 21st century owing to its disruptive impact on the environment. Here, we show the first example of the upgrading of various aromatic plastic wastes with C−O and/or C−C linkages to arenes (75–85 % yield) via catalytic hydrogenolysis over a Ru/Nb2O5 catalyst. This catalyst not only allows the selective conversion of single‐component aromatic plastic, and more importantly, enables the simultaneous conversion of a mixture of aromatic plastic to arenes. The excellent performance is attributed to unique features including: (1) the small sized Ru clusters on Nb2O5, which prevent the adsorption of aromatic ring and its hydrogenation; (2) the strong oxygen affinity of NbOx species for C−O bond activation and Brønsted acid sites for C−C bond activation. This study offers a catalytic path to integrate aromatic plastic waste back into the supply chain of plastic production under the context of circular economy.