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Dealuminated Beta zeolite reverses Ostwald ripening for durable copper nanoparticle catalysts.

Lujie LiuJiaye LuYahui YangWolfgang RuettingerXinhua GaoMing WangHao LouZhandong WangYifeng LiuXin TaoLina LiYong WangHangjie LiHang ZhouChengtao WangQingsong LuoHuixin WuKaidi ZhangJia-Bi MaXiao-Ming CaoLiang WangFeng-Shou Xiao
Published in: Science (New York, N.Y.) (2023)
Copper nanoparticle-based catalysts have been extensively applied in industry, but the nanoparticles tend to sinter into larger ones in the chemical atmospheres, which is detrimental to catalyst performance. In this work, we used dealuminated Beta zeolite to support copper nanoparticles (Cu/Beta-deAl) and showed that these particles become smaller in methanol vapor at 200°C, decreasing from ~5.6 to ~2.4 nanometers in diameter, which is opposite to the general sintering phenomenon. A reverse ripening process was discovered, whereby migratable copper sites activated by methanol were trapped by silanol nests and the copper species in the nests acted as new nucleation sites for the formation of small nanoparticles. This feature reversed the general sintering channel, resulting in robust catalysts for dimethyl oxalate hydrogenation performed with supported copper nanoparticles for use in industry.
Keyphrases
  • oxide nanoparticles
  • highly efficient
  • metal organic framework
  • carbon dioxide
  • walled carbon nanotubes
  • gold nanoparticles
  • transition metal