Kinetics insights into size effects of carbon nanotubes'growth and their supported platinum catalysts for 4,6-dinitroresorcinol hydrogenation

Size effects are a well-documented phenomenon in heterogeneous catalysis,typically attributed to alterations in geometric and electronic properties.In this study,we investigate the influence of catalyst size in the preparation of carbon nanotube(CNT)and the hydrogenation of 4,6-dinitroresorcinol(DNR)using Fe_(2)O_(3)and Pt catalysts,respectively.Various Fe_(2)O_(3)/Al_(2)O_(3)catalysts were synthesized for CNT growth through catalytic chemical vapor deposition.Our findings reveal a significant influence of Fe_(2)O_(3)nanoparticle size on the structure and yield of CNT.Specifically,CNT produced with Fe_(2)O_(3)/Al_(2)O_(3)containing 28%(mass)Fe loading exhibits abundant surface defects,an increased area for metal-particle immobilization,and a high carbon yield.This makes it a promising candidate for DNR hydrogenation.Utilizing this catalyst support,we further investigate the size effects of Pt nanoparticles on DNR hydrogenation.Larger Pt catalysts demonstrate a preference for 4,6-diaminoresorcinol generation at(100)sites,whereas smaller Pt catalysts are more susceptible to electronic properties.The kinetics insights obtained from this study have the potential to pave the way for the development of more efficient catalysts for both CNT synthesis and DNR hydrogenation.

Mechanistic insights into propylene oxidation to acrolein over gold catalysts

Direct epoxidation of propylene with H_(2)/O_(2),being the dream reaction for propylene oxide(PO)production,has raised wide scientific and industrial interests.Fundamentally understanding the formation mechanism of acrolein,as the main by-product of this epoxidation process,is very important to achieve the high yield of PO.In this study,we perform the spin-polarized density functional theory(DFT)calculations to investigate the reaction pathway from propylene to acrolein over two representative Au surfaces,that is,Au(111)and Au(100),which incorporates propylene adsorption,methyl hydrogen activation and acrolein formation.The results show that the oxygenated species(mainly O^(*),OH^(*)and OOH^(*))are able to stabilize the adsorption of propylene to decrease the energy barrier for its activation.It is demonstrated that the OOH^(*)on Au(111)surface emerges as the most easily formed oxygenated species via the H-assisted O_(2) dissociation,which is also the most active for the cleavage of methyl CAH bond in propylene.Furthermore,three pathways of acrolein formation activated by O^(*)/OH^(*)/OOH^(*)are analyzed,in which O^(*)is found as the key species to form acrolein.Finally,Bader charge analysis was conducted to explore the reasons behind the promotion effect of the oxygenated species.The insights reported here could be valuable in the design and optimization of gold catalysts for the direct epoxidation of propylene.

Towards a molecular understanding of the electronic metal-support interaction(EMSI)in heterogeneous catalysis

Tailoring the electronic metal-support interaction(EMSI)has attracted considerable interests as one of the most efficient approaches to improve both the activity and stability of metal catalysts in heterogeneous catalysis.In this viewpoint,we illustrate the methodology and relevant fundamentals on the disentanglement,characterization,and interpretation of EMSI.Under the choice of monometallic catalyst over inert support,a combination of optimal experiment design,multimodal techniques,in situ characterization,with a comprehensive understanding of the underlying measurement protocols is highly desirable for a reliable determination of EMSI.Accordingly,not only the d-band filling but also d-band energy within the EMSI should be taken into consideration for providing general principles to guide the electron-promoting catalytic reaction.

Active sites engineering of Pt/CNT oxygen reduction catalysts by atomic layer deposition

Understanding carbon-supported Pt-catalyzed oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)from the perspective of the active sites is of fundamental and practical importance.In this study,three differently sized carbon nanotube-supported Pt nanoparticles(Pt/CNT)are prepared by both atomic layer deposition(ALD)and impregnation methods.The performances of the catalysts toward the ORR in acidic media are comparatively studied to probe the effects of the sizes of the Pt nanoparticles together with their distributions,electronic properties,and local environments.The ALD-Pt/CNT catalysts show much higher ORR activity and selectivity than the impregnation-Pt/CNT catalysts.This outstanding ORR performance is ascribed to the well-controlled Pt particle sizes and distributions,desirable Pt^04f binding energy,and the Cl-free Pt surfaces based on the electrocatalytic measurements,catalyst characterizations,and model calculations.The insights reported here could guide the rational design and fine-tuning of carbon-supported Pt catalysts for the ORR.

Polyoxometalates-engineered hydrogen generation rate and durability of Pt/CNT catalysts from ammonia borane

Heterogeneously catalyzed hydrolytic dehydrogenation of ammonia borane is a remarkable structure sensitive reaction. In this work, a strategy by using polyoxometalates(POMs) as the ligands is proposed to engineer the surface and electronic properties of Pt/CNT catalysts toward the enhanced hydrogen generation rate and durability. Three kinds of POMs, i.e., silicotungstic acid(STA), phosphotungstic acid(PTA)and molybdophosphoric acid(PMA), are comparatively studied, among which the STA shows positive effects on the catalytic activity and durability. A catalyst structure-performance relationship is established by a combination of kinetic and isotopic analyses with multiple characterization techniques, such as HAADF-STEM, EDS, Raman spectroscopy and XPS. It is shown that the STA compared to the other two POMs can increase the Pt binding energy and thus promote the reaction. The insights demonstrated here could open a new avenue for boosting the reaction by employing the POMs as the ligands to engineer the catalyst electronic properties.

Active sites and reaction mechanism for N-doped carbocatalysis of phenol removal

Heteroatom-doping of carbocatalysts has been a powerful strategy to remarkably enhance the catalytic performance.Herein,the underlying nature of N promotional effects on peroxymonosulfate(PMS)activation for phenol removal is understood by combining kinetics analysis with multiple techniques.A strategy using mixed acid oxidation of carbon nanotube(CNT)followed by NH3 treatment is employed to yield a series of catalysts with different N-doping contents but similar fraction of sp^(2)-hybridized carbon and defective degree,endowing with a chance to discriminate the dominant N-containing active sites.The multi-sites kinetics analysis suggests the graphitic N-containing sites as the dominant active sites.The mechanism of the surface-bound reactive species is also discriminated as the dominant reaction mechanism.The insights reported here could provide the methodology to fundamentally understand the heteroatom-doping effects of carbocatalysis.

Platelet carbon nanofibers as support of Pt-CoO electrocatalyst for superior hydrogen evolution

Exploration of cost-effective Pt/C catalysts has been a significant issue for electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction(HER) toward sustainable energy conversion and storage.Herein,we report a fabrication strategy by employing platelet carbon nanofibers(p-CNF) as the support to immobilize Pt-CoO HER electrocatalyst using atomic layer deposition method.The edge-rich p-CNF support is found to act as the anchoring sites of Pt nanoparticles and favorably capture electrons from Pt to yield electron-deficient Pt surfaces for the boosted HER.Additionally,the sequential growth of CoO onto the Pt/p-CNF catalyst elaborately constructs the Pt-CoO interface and facilitates the electron transfer from Pt to CoO,which further enhances the HER activity.These advantages endow the fabricated Pt-CoO/p-CNF catalyst with the superior HER activity,e.g.,a very low overpotential of 26 mV at the current density of 10 mA·cm-2 and a mass activity of 4.42 A·mgPt-1at the overpotential of 30 mV,18.8 times higher than that of the commercial20 wt% Pt/C catalyst.The insights reported here could shed light on for the fabrication of cost-effective Pt-based composite HER catalysts.

Active sites of Pt/CNTs nanocatalysts for aerobic base-free oxidation of glycerol

Understanding the nature of Pt active sites is of great importance for the structure-sensitive base-free oxidation of glycerol. In the present work, the remarkable Pt particle size effects on glycerol conversion and products formation from the oxidation of the primary and the secondary hydroxyl groups are understood by combining the model calculations and DFT calculations, aiming to discriminate the corresponding dominant Pt active sites. The Pt(100) facet is demonstrated to be the dominant active sites for the glycerol conversion and the products formation from the two routes. The insights revealed here could shed new light on fundamental understanding of the Pt particle size effects and then guiding the design and optimization of Pt-catalyzed base-free oxidation of glycerol toward targeted products.

Explosion limits estimation and process optimization of direct propylene epoxidation with H2 and O2

Direct propylene epoxidation with H2 and O2,an attractive process to produce propylene oxide(PO),has a potential explosion danger due to the coexistence of flammable gases(i.e.,C3 H6 and H2)and oxidizer(i.e.,O2).The unknown explosion limits of the multi-component feed gas mixture make it difficult to optimize the reaction process under safe operation conditions.In this work,a distribution method is proposed and verified to be effective by comparing estimated and experimental explosion limits of more than 200 kinds of flammable gas mixture.Then,it is employed to estimate the explosion limits of the feed gas mixture,some results of which are also validated by the classic Le Chatelier’s Rule and flammable resistance method.Based on the estimated explosion limits,process optimization is carried out using commercially high and inherently safe reactant concentrations to enhance reaction performance.The promising results are directly obtained through the interface called gOPT in gPROMS only by using a simple,easy-constructed and mature packed-bed reactor,such as the PO yield of 13.3%,PO selectivity of 85.1%and outlet PO fraction of 1.8%.These results can be rationalized by indepth analyses and discussion about the effects of the decision variables on the operation safety and reaction performance.The insights revealed here could shed new light on the process development of the PO production based on the estimation of the explosion limits of the multi-component feed gas mixture containing flammable gase s,inert gas and O2,followed by process optimization.

Taming Electrons in Pt/C Catalysts to Boost the Mesokinetics of Hydrogen Production

Taming the electron transfer across metal–support interfaces appears to be an attractive yet challenging methodology to boost catalytic properties.Herein,we demonstrate a precise engineering strategy for the carbon surface chemistry of Pt/C catalysts—that is,for the electron-withdrawing/donating oxygencontaining groups on the carbon surface—to fine-tune the electrons of the supported metal nanoparticles.Taking the ammonia borane hydrolysis as an example,a combination of density functional theory(DFT)calculations,advanced characterizations,and kinetics and isotopic analyses reveals quantifiable relationships among the carbon surface chemistry,Pt charge state and binding energy,activation entropy/enthalpy,and resultant catalytic activity.After decoupling the influences of other factors,the Pt charge is unprecedentedly identified as an experimentally measurable descriptor of the Pt active site,contributing to a 15-fold increment in the hydrogen generation rate.Further incorporating the Pt charge with the number of Pt active sites,a mesokinetics model is proposed for the first time that can individually quantify the contributions of the electronic and geometric properties to precisely predict the catalytic performance.Our results demonstrate a potentially groundbreaking methodology to design and manipulate metal–carbon catalysts with desirable properties.

Poisoning effect of polyvinyl chloride on the catalytic pyrolysis of mixed plastics over zeolites

Nowadays,the chemical recycling is applied for only 1%of total waste plastics,largely due to contaminants in plastic waste and difficulty in product control.As the major contaminant,polyvinyl chloride(PVC)often forms corrosive hydrogen chloride(HCl)during the chemical recycling,which may cause severe catalyst deactivation and equipment damage.However,the investigation on catalytic pyrolysis(the major route for plastics chemical recycling)of the PVC containing mixed plastics has been rarely reported.Here,catalytic co-pyrolysis of PVC and polyethylene(PE)was studied over an aromatization catalyst,Pt/ZSM-5,since the basic building block aromatics are desired products from plastics chemical recycling.The poisoning effect of PVC vapor on the catalyst stability was explored by collective efforts of thorough product analysis and catalyst characterization.It was found that the HCl evolving from PVC has an autocatalytic effect that promotes the scission of dehydrochlorinated PVC,resulting in the high yield of benzene and acetylene from PVC.On the other hand,the presence of PVC suppressed the aromatics formation from PE,largely due to the poisoning effect of PVC-derived HCl on the Pt/ZSM-5.The deactivation is irreversible as evidenced by the decreased zeolite crystallinity and the loss of strong acid sites that are key to the aromatization,possibly due to the removal of framework Al upon the interaction with HCl.The modification with octadecylphosphonic acid only slightly alleviated the PVC poisoning effect.The insights on the PVC poisoning of zeolite catalysts provided in this work may guide the process design of chemical recycling of PVC containing waste plastics.

Engineering electronic platinum-carbon support interaction to tame carbon monoxide activation

CO oxidation has been studied for more than a century;however,molecular-level understanding of its activation protocol and related intermediates remains elusive.Here,we present a unified mechanistic and kinetic picture of various electronic metal-support interactions within platinum-carbon catalysts via in situ spectroscopic/kinetic analyses and multi-scale simulations.Transient kinetic analysis and molecular dynamics simulations with a reactive force field provided a quantitative description of the competition between the oxygen association and oxygen dissociation mechanisms tuned by the interfacial charge distribution and CO coverage.Steady-state isotopic transient kinetic analysis and density functional theory calculations revealed a simultaneous shift in the rate-determining step(RDS)from O_(2)^(*)dissociation to O^(*)and CO^(*)and O_(2)^(*)and CO^(*)association.A de novo strategy from the interfacial charge distribution to the reaction mechanism,kinetics/thermodynamics of RDS,and,ultimately,catalytic performance was developed to quantitatively map the above CO activation mechanism with an order-of-magnitude increase in reactivity.The proposed catalytic picture and de novo strategy are expected to prompt the development of theories and methodologies for heterogeneous catalysis.

Kinetics and mechanistic insights into the active sites of Au catalysts for selective propylene oxidation

Identification of the catalytically active sites emerges as the prerequisite for an atomic-level comprehensive understanding and further rational design of highly efficient catalysts.Here,we demonstrate a kinetics strategy to identify the active sites of Au catalyst for the disentanglement of geometric and electronic effects on the selective oxidation of propylene to acrolein.Both the Ti-containing titanium-silicalite-1(TS-1)and Ti-free silicalite-1(S-1)were employed as supports to immobilize Au catalysts,which were investigated by a combination of multiple characterization,kinetics analysis,crystal structure modelling.The Au(111)sites are identified as the main active site for acrolein formation,while their electronic effects are highly relevant to the presence or absence of Ti.Moreover,propylene epoxide(PO)formation mainly involves the co-participation of Au and Ti sites,the proximity between Au and Ti sites is found to have less influences on PO formation in a certain distance.In comparison,acrolein is very likely to generate over Au(111)sites via the hydrogen-assisted O_(2) activation to oxygenated species for its oxidizing propylene.The insights gained here could guide the design and preparation of Au catalysts for selective propylene oxidation.

Effects of particle shape and packing style on ethylene oxidation reaction using particle-resolved CFD simulation

Gaining in-depth insights into the effects of particle shapes and packing style on ethylene oxidation reaction is of paramount industrial importance.In this work,reactor models of five packing structures with different particle shapes and three packing structures with different packing styles are established by employing software Blender and COMSOL Multiphysics to explore how the reaction-diffusion behaviors affect ethylene oxidation process.The reliabilities of rigid body dynamics model and particle-resolved reactor model are verified by comparing simulated and experimental pressure drops and ethylene conversions.In all the five packing structures with laminar flow conditions,the high bed porosity and low total particle surface area for the trilobe packing structure give rise to the lowest pressure drop of 27.8 Pa/m,while the internal voids cutting mode provides the excellent heat transfer capacity for the Raschig ring packing structure and the highest ethylene conversion and thereby the highest bed temperature rise of 25.1 K for the four-hole cylinder packing structure.Based on these analyses,changing the packing style to the bottom-up Raschig ring-four hole cylinder packing structure would be a good strategy for the effectively lowered reactor temperature rise by 4.8 K together with the slightly reduced ethylene conversion.