Rhodium colloidal suspension deposition on porous silica particles by dry impregnation: Study of the influence of the reaction conditions on nanoparticles location and dispersion and catalytic reactivity

Rhodium composite nanomaterials were synthesized by an innovating process called dry impregnation in a fluidized bed. It consists in spraying an aqueous colloidal suspension of rhodium on silica porous particles. The use of this precursor solution containing preformed nanoparticles avoids calcination/activation step. Different composite nanomaterials were prepared displaying various metal loadings. The operating conditions were tuned to modify τs, the solvent vapour saturation rate value, in order to influence the deposit location: either uniform on the whole silica particles or at the particles surface like a coating. τs is defined as the ratio between solvent content in the bed atmosphere and the maximum solvent content. The obtained samples were investigated in catalytic hydrogenation of aromatic compounds under very mild conditions. Their catalytic performances were compared to those of the original colloidal suspension in one hand and of a similar catalyst prepared through wet impregnation in another hand. Interesting activity and selectivity were observed.This illustrates the interest of the dry impregnation method: this way allows an easy control of the metal loading as well as of the metal loading location in the support particles. Moreover, the support particle size and morphology are preserved

Model arenes hydrogenation with silica-supported rhodium nanoparticles:The role of the silica grains and of the solvent on catalytic activities

Silica-supported rhodium-based nanoheterogeneous catalysts were easily prepared by impregnation with a pre-stabilized colloidal suspension. The resulting catalysts contain rhodium nanoparticles well-dispersed in the silica pores with a mean size of 5 nm. Influence of the silica grains size and of the solvent was investigated in arenes hydrogenation. It appeared that the size of the silica grains has a minimal influence on the reaction rate but the supported nanocatalysts displayed higher TOFs in hexane than in water

Chemoselective hydrogenation of arenes by PVP supported Rh nanoparticles

Polyvinylpyrrolidone-stabilized Rh nanoparticles (RhNPs/PVP) of ca. 2.2 nm in size were prepared by the hydrogenation of the organometallic complex [Rh(η3-C3H5)3] in the presence of PVP and evaluated as a catalyst in the hydrogenation of a series of arene substrates as well as levulinic acid and methyl levulinate.</p

Cyclodextrin-based systems for the stabilization of metallic(0) nanoparticles and their versatile applications in catalysis

International audienceIn order to better respond to environmental standards, the development of metal nanoparticles using green approaches has exponentially grown for the last decade. Cyclodextrins, which are cyclic oligosaccharides composed of 6(α), 7(β) or 8(γ) glucopyranose units, have appeared to be interesting candidates for the synthesis of metal nanoparticles. Indeed, through the ability to form inclusion complexes or supramolecular adducts with organic molecules or metal precursors, cyclodextrins can be successfully employed to stabilize size-controlled zerovalent metallic nanoparticles active for hydrogenation reactions carried out in aqueous or gas-phase media. In this summary of our works, we report that cyclodextrins could be used in various forms and environments: (i) in free form, (ii) in complexed form with appropriate guests molecules, (iii) in combination with polymer matrices, (iv) in thermosensitive hydrogels and (v) immobilized onto porous carbons supports. All these studies highlight the fact that cyclodextrins can be seen as multi-task agents for nanocatalysis

β-Cyclodextrins grafted with chiral amino acids: A promising supramolecular stabilizer of nanoparticles for asymmetric hydrogenation?

International audienceWater-soluble ruthenium nanoparticles stabilized by randomly methylated β-cyclodextrins (RaMeCDs) grafted with chiral amino-acid moieties like l-alanine (Ala) and l-leucine (Leu) were prepared in aqueous solution by two approaches: (i) a one-step hydrogen reduction of ruthenium trichloride as metal source in the presence of appropriate cyclodextrins (one-pot method) or (ii) a NaBH4 reduction of the metal salts, followed by the stabilization of ruthenium hydrosol by the addition of chirally modified RaMeCDs (cascade method). The influence of the ligand's nature and the synthesis methodologies on the size, dispersion and surface properties of the obtained ruthenium colloids were studied by TEM and NMR analyses. The spherical ruthenium suspensions contain very small particles (0.82-1.00 nm) with narrow size distributions. Their catalytic properties were evaluated in biphasic hydrogenation of various prochiral compounds (olefins, ketones and disubstituted arenes) showing promising results in terms of activity and selectivity. Nevertheless, no significant enantiomeric excesses were observed

Surface-Functionalized Nanoparticles as Catalysts for Artificial Photosynthesis

Altres ajuts: acords transformatius de la UABAnalogously to enzymatic catalysis, where the active metal sites and their environment are controlled by protein residues, the catalytic properties of metal nanoparticles (NPs) can be tuned by carefully selecting their surface-coordinated species. In artificial photosynthesis, surface-functionalization emerged in the last decade, grounded on the development of reliable methods for tailored synthesis, advanced characterization and theoretical modeling of metal NPs, altogether with the aim of transferring to the nanoscale the mechanistic knowledge acquired from molecular complexes. Metal NPs surface-functionalization modulates the energetics of key catalytic intermediates, introduces second coordination sphere effects, influences the catalyst-electrolyte interface, and determines the metal NPs surface coverage and, accordingly, the number of accessible active sites. In photoactivated systems, metal NPs surface-functionalization may play a key role in modulating the charge transfers and recombination processes between the light absorber and the active sites and in the light absorber itself. Thus, after a presentation of the most relevant synthetic methods to produce well-defined surface-functionalized metal NPs, a critical analysis of why the above effects are the cornerstone in enhancing their catalytic performance in the key processes of artificial photosynthesis, namely the oxygen evolution reaction, the hydrogen evolution reaction, and the CO2 reduction reaction, is given

Organocatalytic vs. Ru-based electrochemical hydrogenation of nitrobenzene in competition with the hydrogen evolution reaction

The electrochemical reduction of organic contaminants allows their removal from water. In this contribution, the electrocatalytic hydrogenation of nitrobenzene is studied using both oxidized carbon fibres and ruthenium nanoparticles supported on unmodified carbon fibres as catalysts. The two systems produce azoxynitrobenzene as the main product, while aniline is only observed in minor quantities. Although PhNO2 hydrogenation is the favoured reaction, the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) competes in both systems under catalytic conditions. H2 formation occurs in larger amounts when using the Ru nanoparticle based catalyst. While similar reaction outputs were observed for both catalytic systems, DFT calculations revealed some significant differences related to distinct interactions between the catalytic material and the organic substrates or products, which could pave the way for the design of new catalytic materials

Photocatalysts for CO2 reduction and computational insights

Global warming is caused by excessive CO2 production, and reducing CO2 emissions is a viable way to counteract this. It has been extensively studied how light-driven processes, particularly photocatalytic systems, can transform solar energy into chemical energy. In the present review exercise, the mechanism of CO2 reduction is described using calculations based on density functional theory (DFT), and comparisons are also made with regard to typical light-driven devices. Additionally, the traits of potential materials—including metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), metal complexes, metal oxide, Z-scheme (metal complexes/semiconductors, two semiconductors, dye-sensitized semiconductors), improved S-scheme and organic photocatalyst etc.—are described in depth to show how these traits affect the CO2 adsorption, activation, and desorption processes. Also summarized are a number of methods for enhancing the selectivity and efficiency of catalytic reactions. Lastly, the challenges and future outlook of light-driven reactions for CO2 reduction are presente