Catalytic combustion of methane over nano ZrO_2-supported copper-based catalysts

The nano ZrO2-supported copper-based catalysts for methane combustion were investigated by means of N2 adsorption, TEM, XRD, H2-TPR techniques and the test of methane oxidation. Two kinds of ZrO2 were used as support, one （ZrO2-1） was obtained from the commercial ZrO2 and the other （ZrO2-2） was issued from the thermal decomposition of zirconium nitrate. It was found that the CuO/ZrO2-2 catalyst was more active than CuO/ZrO2-1. N2 adsorption, H2-TPR and XRD measurements showed that larger surface area, better reduction property, presence of tetragonal ZrO2 and higher dispersion of active component for CuO/ZrO2-2 than that of CuO/ZrO2-1. These factors could be the dominating reasons for its higher activity for methane combustion.

Performance of Ni/Nano-ZrO_2 Catalysts for CO Preferential Methanation

Large surface areas nano-scale zirconia was prepared by the self-assembly route and was employed as support in nickel catalysts for the CO selective methanation. The effects of Ni loading and the catalyst calcination temperature on the performance of the catalyst for CO selective methanation reaction were investigated. The cata- lysts were characterized by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller （BET）, transmission electron microscope （TEM）, X-ray dif- fraction （XRD） and temperature-programmed reduction （TPR）. The results showed that the as-synthesized Ni/nano-ZrO2 catalysts presented high activity for CO methanation due to the interaction between Ni active particle and nano zir- conia support. The selectivity for the CO methanation influenced significantly by the particle size of the active Ni species. The exorbitant calcination resulted in the conglomeration of dispersive Ni particles and led to the decrease of CO methanation selectivity. Among the catalysts studied, the 7.5% （by mass） Ni/ZrO2 catalyst calcinated at 500℃ was the most effective for the CO selective methanation. It can preferentially catalyze the CO methanation with a higher 99% conversion in the CO/CO2 competitive methanation system over the temperature range of 260-280℃, while keeping the CO2 conversion relatively low.

Stability and activity of carbon nanofiber-supported catalysts in the aqueous phase reforming of ethylene glycol

Nickel, cobalt, copper and platinum nanoparticles supported on carbon nano-fibers were evaluated with respect to their stability, catalytic activity and selectivity in the aqueous phase reforming of ethylene glycol （230 ℃, autogenous pressure, batch reactor）. The initial surface-specific activities for ethylene glycol reforming were in a similar range but decreased in the order of Pt （15.5 h-1 ） 〉Co（13.0 h 1 ） 〉Ni（5.2 h-1） while the Cu catalyst only showed low dehydrogenation activity. The hydrogen molar selectivity decreased in the order of Pt （53%）〉Co（21%）〉Ni （15%） as a result of the production of methane over the latter two catalysts. Over the Co catalyst acids were formed in the liquid phase while alcohols were formed over Ni and Pt. Due to the low pH of the reaction mixture, especially in the case of Co （as a result of the formed acids）, significant cobalt leaching occurs which resulted in a rapid deactivation of this catalyst. Investigations of the spent catalysts with various techniques showed that metal particle growth is responsible for the deactivation of the Pt and Ni catalysts. In addition, coking might also contribute to the deactivation of the Ni catalyst.

Rational design and precise manipulation of nano‐catalysts

Nano‐catalysis plays a vital role in the chemical transformations and significantly impacts the booming modern chemical industry.The rapid technological enhancements have resulted in serious energy and environmental issues,which are currently spurring the exploration of the novel nano‐catalysts in diverse fields.In order to develop the efficient nano‐catalysts,it is essential to understand their fundamental physicochemical properties,including the coordination structures of the active centers and substrate‐adsorbate interactions.Subsequently,the nano‐catalyst design with precise manipulation at the atomic level can be attained.In this account,we have summarized our extensive investigation of the factors impacting nano‐catalysis,along with the synthetic strategies developed to prepare the nano‐catalysts for applications in electrocatalysis,photocatalysis and thermocatalysis.Finally,a brief conclusion and future research directions on nano‐catalysis have also been presented.

Cu–Co–O nano-catalysts as a burn rate modifier for composite solid propellants

Nano-catalysts containing copper–cobalt oxides(Cu–Co–O) have been synthesized by the citric acid(CA) complexing method. Copper(II) nitrate and Cobalt(II) nitrate were employed in different molar ratios as the starting reactants to prepare three types of nano-catalysts. Well crystalline nano-catalysts were produced after a period of 3 hours by the calcination of CA–Cu–Co–O precursors at 550 °C. The phase morphologies and crystal composition of synthesized nano-catalysts were examined using Scanning Electron Microscope(SEM), Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy(EDS) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy(FTIR) methods. The particle size of nano-catalysts was observed in the range of 90 nm–200 nm. The prepared nano-catalysts were used to formulate propellant samples of various compositions which showed high reactivity toward the combustion of HTPB/AP-based composite solid propellants. The catalytic effects on the decomposition of propellant samples were found to be significant at higher temperatures. The combustion characteristics of composite solid propellants were significantly improved by the incorporation of nano-catalysts. Out of the three catalysts studied in the present work, Cu Co-I was found to be the better catalyst in regard to thermal decomposition and burning nature of composite solid propellants. The improved performance of composite solid propellant can be attributed to the high crystallinity, low agglomeration and lowering the decomposition temperature of oxidizer by the addition of Cu Co-I nano-catalyst.

Cobalt supported on CNTs-covered γ-and nano-structured alumina catalysts utilized for wax selective Fischer-Tropsch synthesis

Cobalt supported on carbon nanotubes （CNTs）-covered alumina has been recently developed and successfully utilized as a catalyst in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis （FTS）. Problems associated with shaping of Co/CNTs into extrudates or pellets as well as catalyst attrition rendered these materials unfavorable for industrial applications. In this investigation regular γ- and nano-structured （N-S） alumina as well as CNTs-covered regular γ- and N-S-alumina supports were impregnated by cobalt nitrate solution to make new cobalt-based catalysts which were also promoted by Ru. The catalysts were characterized and tested in a micro reactor to evaluate their applicability in FTS. γ-Al2O3 was prepared by calcination of bohemite and N-S-Al2O3 was prepared by sol-gel method using aluminum chloride as starting material. Catalyst evaluations indicated that N-S-Al2O3 was superior to regular γ-Al2O3 and that CNTs-covered alumina supports were favored over non-covered ones in terms of activity and heavy hydrocarbon selectivity. These were justified by porosimetric characteristics of the catalysts and existence of CNTs points of view. CNTs-covered catalysts also showed higher wax selectivity and better resistance to deactivation. Furthermore, TPR analysis indicated that the cobalt aluminate phase, which is responsible for the permanent deactivation of alumina supported Co-based catalysts, did not form on alumina supported Co-based catalysts covered with CNTs due to weaker interactions between cobalt and alumina.

Doping effect of cations(Zr^(4+),Al^(3+),and Si^(4+)) on MnO_x/CeO_2 nano-rod catalyst for NH_3-SCR reaction at low temperature

Thermally stable Zr4+, Al3+, and Si4+ cations were incorporated into the lattice of CeO2 nano‐rods (i.e., CeO2‐NR) in order to improve the specific surface area. The undoped and Zr4+, Al3+, and Si4+ doped nano‐rods were used as supports to prepare MnOx/CeO2‐NR, MnOx/CZ‐NR, MnOx/CA‐NR, and MnOx/CS‐NR catalysts, respectively. The prepared supports and catalysts were comprehensively characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high‐resolution TEM, X‐ray diffraction, Raman and N2‐physisorption analyses, hydrogen temperature‐programmed reduction, ammonia temperature‐programmed desorption, in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier‐transform spectroscopic analysis of the NH3 adsorption, and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Moreover, the catalytic performance and H2O+SO2 tolerance of these samples were evaluated through NH3‐selective catalytic reduction (NH3‐SCR) in the absence or presence of H2O and SO2. The obtained results show that the MnOx/CS‐NR catalyst exhibits the highest NOx conversion and the lowest N2O concentration, which result from the largest number of oxygen vacancies and acid sites, the highest Mn4+ content, and the lowest redox ability. The MnOx/CS‐NR catalyst also presents excellent resistance to H2O and SO2. All of these phenomena suggest that Si4+ is the optimal dopant for the MnOx/CeO2‐NR catalyst.

Fischer-Tropsch synthesis by nano-structured iron catalyst

Effects of nanoscale iron oxide particles on textural structure,reduction,carburization and catalytic behavior of precipitated iron catalyst in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis（FTS） are investigated.Nanostructured iron catalysts were prepared by microemulsion method in two series.Firstly,Fe2O3 ,CuO and La2O3 nanoparticles were prepared separately and were mixed to attain Fe/Cu/La nanostructured catalyst（sep-nano catalyst）;Secondly nanostructured catalyst was prepared by co-precipitation in a water-in-oil microemulsion method（mix-nano catalyst）.Also,conventional iron catalyst was prepared with common co-precipitation method.Structural characterizations of the catalysts were performed by TEM,XRD,H2 and CO-TPR tests.Particle size of iron oxides for sep-nano and mix-nano catalysts,which were determined by XRD pattern（Scherrer equation） and TEM images was about 20 and 21.6 nm,respectively.Catalyst evaluation was conducted in a fixed-bed stainless steel reactor and compared with conventional iron catalyst.The results revealed that FTS reaction increased while WGS reaction and olefin/paraffin ratio decreased in nanostructured iron catalysts.

Deactivation studies of nano-structured iron catalyst in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis

A nano-structured iron catalyst for syngas conversion to hydrocarbons in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis（FTS） was prepared by micro-emulsion method.Compositions of bulk iron phase and phase transformations of carbonaceous species during catalyst deactivation in FTS reaction were characterized by temperature-programmed surface reaction with hydrogen（TPSR-H 2 ）,and XRD techniques.Many carbonaceous species on surface and bulk of the nano-structured iron catalysts were completely identified by combined TPSR-H 2 and XRD spectra and which were compared with those recorded on conventional co-precipitated iron catalyst.The results reveal that the catalyst deactivation results from the formation of inactive carbide phases and surface carbonaceous species like graphite,and it will be increased when the particle size of iron oxides was reduced in FTS iron catalyst.

Effect of nano-particle size on product distribution and kinetic parameters of Fe/Cu/La catalyst in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis

Effects of nano-particle size on hydrocarbon production rates and distributions for precipitated Fe/Cu/La catalysts in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis were investigated.Nano-structured iron catalyst was prepared by micro-emulsion method.The concept of two superimposed AndersonSchulz-Flory （ASF） distributions has been applied for the representation of the effects of reaction conditions and nano-particles size on kinetics parameters and product distributions.These results reveal that by reducing the particle size of catalyst,the break in ASF distributions was decreased.Also useful different kinetics equations for synthesis of C3 to C9 and C10 to C22 were determined by using α1 and α2 chain growth probabilities.

Influence of MgO contents on silica supported nano-size gold catalyst for carbon monoxide total oxidation

A series of nano-size gold catalysts were prepared by deposition-precipitation method using silica material promoted with different amounts of MgO as the carrier. The influences of MgO addition on the structure and property of the nano-size gold catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction （XRD）, transmission electron microscopy （TEM）, O2 temperature-programmed desorption （O2-TPD）, and inductively coupled with plasma atomic emission spectroscopy （ICP-AES） techniques. The total oxidation of CO was chosen as the probe reaction. The results suggest that for the gold catalysts supported on the silica material after MgO modification, the size of the gold particles is pronouncedly reduced, the oxygen mobility is enhanced, and the catalytic activity for low-temperature CO oxidation is greatly improved. The gold catalyst modified by 6 wt% MgO （Mg/SiO2 weight ratio） shows higher CO oxidation activity, over which the temperature of CO total oxidation is lower about 150 K than that over the silica directly supported gold catalyst.

Electrosynthesis of CuO Nanocrystal Array as a Highly Efficient and Stable Electrocatalyst for Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Electrodeposition of active catalysts on electrodes appears as a convenient approach to prepare non-noble-metal based electrocatalysts with defined micro- and nano-structures. Herein we report a new strategy of fabricating a 3-D hierarchical CuO nanocrystal array (CuO NCA) on Cu foam through a two-step sacrifice-template method. This CuO NCA possesses high conductivity, great stability, and impressive catalytic activity for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in alkaline electrolytes. The CuO NCA can achieve a high current density of 100 mA/cm2 at a relatively low overpotential of 400 mV for OER, which shows a better performance than other Cu-based OER catalysts and IrO2. The high activity of CuO NCA is well retained during a 10-h OER test at a high current density around 270 mA/cm2, which is about 10 times higher than the current density achieved by IrO2 (around 25 mA/cm2) with the same applied overpotential. According to our best knowledge, CuO NCA is currently the most efficient and stable Cu-based electrocatalyst for water oxidation in alkaline electrolytes.

AlCl_(3)modified Pd/Al_(2)O_(3)catalyst for enhanced anthraquinone hydrogenation

Anthraquinone hydrogenation to produce H_(2)O_(2) is an economically interesting reaction with great industrial importance.Here,we report a series of Pd/xAl catalysts with different AlCl_(3) contents by a conventional stepwise impregnation method.The optimal Pd/1.0Al catalyst exhibits a higher performance toward anthraquinone hydrogenation with 8.3 g·L^(-1)hydrogenation efficiency,99.5%selectivity and good stability,obviously superior to that of Pd/Al_(2)O_(3) catalyst(5.2 g·L^(-1)and 97.2%).Detailed characterization demonstrates that AlCl_(3) can be grafted on the γ-Al_(2)O_(3) support to obtain a modified support with abundant surface weak acid and Lewis acid,which can adsorb and activate anthraquinone.Meanwhile,its steric hindrance could isolate and disperse active metals to form more active sites.The synergies between metal sites and acid sites promotes the anthraquinone hydrogenation.Furthermore,the good stability after grafting AlCl_(3) could attribute to the enhanced metal-support interaction inhibiting metal particles agglomeration and leaching.

Nano-γ-Fe₂O₃: Efficient, Reusable and Green Catalyst for <i>N</i>-<i>tert</i>-Butoxycarbonylation of Amines in Water

An efficient and versatile practical protocol for the chemoselective N-tert-butoxycarbonylation of amines using Nano-γ-Fe2O3 and (BOC)2O. Nano-γ-Fe2O3 was applied as an efficient, green, heterogeneous and reusable catalyst at ambient temperature;the method is general for the preparation of N-Boc derivatives of aliphatic, heterocyclic, aromatic as well as amino acid derivatives.

高选择性部分氧化催化剂Au-Pd/TiO_(2)-SiO_(2)的设计合成与苯甲醇部分氧化反应

贵金属纳米催化剂在苯甲醇部分氧化制备苯甲醛过程中具有较高的反应活性,产物苯甲醛选择性较低。采用一锅法制备TiO_(2)改性的Au-Pd/TiO_(2)-SiO_(2)纳米合金催化剂并用于苯甲醇部分氧化反应。对催化剂结构表征关联反应进行评价。结果表明:少量TiO_(2)的引入会改善贵金属纳米颗粒在载体表面的分散度,调变了金钯合金表面的电子结构,提高反应活性,并显著提高载体表面Lewis酸位的数量,从而大幅提高苯甲醛选择性;大量TiO_(2)的引入会导致金钯合金程度降低,产生大量的Bronsted酸位,使得反应活性和产物选择性都大幅降低。

纳米催化剂催化臭氧化应用进展

综述了类均相纳米催化剂在催化臭氧化中的应用现状,探讨了催化臭氧化的技术机理。生产中存在诸多类型的催化剂,纳米催化剂因其比表面积大、活性位点多、催化效率高得到了广泛关注和应用。从金属、金属氧化物纳米催化剂、钙钛矿纳米催化剂、碳基纳米催化剂不同材料角度进行归纳,对关于纳米催化剂应用于催化臭氧化中的处理效果予以介绍。指出了纳米催化剂的主要缺点和相应对策,并对未来发展方向进行了展望。以期为纳米催化剂催化臭氧化在实际工程的应用提供参考。

生物碳基纳米钯铜催化剂的优化制备及脱硝研究

针对目前高效处理水体硝酸盐污染的技术瓶颈,以毛竹生物碳为载体基材,通过湿化学-浸渍还原的手段制备生物碳基纳米钯铜双金属催化剂(Nano-PdCu-BC),并以其为粒子电极,协同传统的二维电化学反应器,搭建三维粒子电催化反应体系去除水体中的硝酸盐污染物.探究了催化剂制备的前驱液浓度、初始硝酸盐氮浓度、电流强度、催化剂投加量和初始pH值对电催化还原NO_(3)-N的影响.结果显示,通过浸渍还原的方法可以将钯铜双金属成功负载在毛竹生物碳载体上,获得纳米钯铜双金属催化剂.在前驱液为0.60g/LPdCl_(2)和0.15g/LCuCl_(2)的溶液组合,初始硝酸盐氮(NO_(3)-N)浓度为100mg/L、电流强度为220mA、初始pH值为7,催化剂投加量为0.80g/L的条件下,反应180min后硝酸盐氮去除率可达99.68%,N_(2)选择性约为44.25%;Nano-PdCu-BC电催化还原NO_(3)-N的反应符合一级反应动力学,反应动力学常数k值为0.034/min;经3次循环使用后,NO_(3)-N去除率仍维持在95%以上,N_(2)选择性保持在40%以上;揭示了纳米钯铜双金属催化剂电催化还原硝酸盐的机理,纳米零价Cu位点吸附NO_(3)-N后被氧化为CuO,提供电子促进NO_(3)-N还原为NO_(2)-N,协同纳米零价Pd,通过为吸附激活原子氢H*间接还原NO_(3)-N,达到将NO_(3)-N还原为NH_4和N_(2)的目的.

Mn/Cr_(2)O_(3)催化剂的甲苯催化氧化性能研究

为了解决挥发性有机化合物(VOCs)燃烧处理效率低的问题,通过水热合成法制备了Cr_(2)O_(3)纳米粒子,再以浸渍法负载Mn组分,得到系列Mn Cr_(2)O_(3)催化剂,表征了其物理化学性质,评价了其催化甲苯氧化反应的性能。结果表明:相较于Cr_(2)O_(3)催化剂,MnO_(x)的负载在诱导铬基载体产生有序介孔结构的同时,增大了催化剂的比表面积,有效提高了活性MnO_(x)的分散度,维持了Mn Cr_(2)O_(3)催化剂的结构稳定性,解决了活性组分易聚集失活的问题;当Mn质量分数为20%时,Mn Cr_(2)O_(3)催化剂展现出最高活性,甲苯转化率为50%,90%,100%时温度分别为210,229,240℃;同时,该催化剂在240℃、50 h的稳定性测试中,甲苯转化率能够保持在100%,这说明通过控制Mn组分的掺入量,能够有效调控系列Mn Cr_(2)O_(3)催化剂的孔道结构、金属-载体间的相互作用及抗积炭能力,以期进一步优化催化性能。