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Supported Nanoparticles for Catalysis: Genesis and Dynamics in the Liquid Phase

Final Report Summary - NANOPARTCAT (Supported Nanoparticles for Catalysis: Genesis and Dynamics in the Liquid Phase)

The title of this ERC funded project reads “Supported Nanoparticles for Catalysis: Genesis and Dynamics in the Liquid-Phase”. Catalysis is the key science and technology to enable chemical conversions with precision and efficiency. Catalysts accelerate the rate of chemical reactions (activity) and enhance the formation of desired products (selectivity) to arrive at atom and energy efficient processes. These catalytic processes deliver fuels and an almost infinite number of chemical products (a.o. plastics, solvents, pharmaceuticals) that contribute tremendously to modern industry, economy and society. The grand challenge of society and also of catalysis is to move from a fossil fuel based energy and chemical industry to (more) sustainable and renewable feedstocks. Supported metal (oxide) nanoparticles are the most important class of catalysts used today and probably also tomorrow. In order to restrict agglomeration and growth of metal nanoparticles in catalysis these are emplaced and anchored on a so-called support material. The way that these supported metal catalysts are made is often not well controlled and understood. This ERC project has greatly contributed to better control and understanding of catalyst synthesis which allows us to produce catalysts that are more selective and thus give rise to less by-products and thus smaller carbon footprint.

In this project for the very first time we have used Transmission Electron Microscopy to study synthesis and assembly of supported metal catalysts in real time in the liquid phase. To this end we had to acquire a new transmission electron microscope (TEM) that allowed us to use a special cell and also to deliver high-quality elemental mapping. The special cell that we could use in TEM was acquired too. With this new equipment we had to take a number of hurdles before meaningful studies could be carried out. The electron beam in TEM may damage the sample in particular in liquid phase because of the formation of reactive radicals. We have found ways to suppress radical formation and also found the key aspects of materials to restrict damage in water. Having passed those hurdles we have studied a number of catalyst synthesis aspects. First, we have studied attachment of iron oxide nanoparticles to carbon nanotube support materials. These breakthrough studies revealed that the polarity of the carbon nanotubes greatly affects the nature and extent of interaction with the iron oxide nanoparticles. A second study involved the growth of gold nanoparticles on a titania support revealing for the very first time how the nanoscale growth appeared much more complex than predicted by macroscopic models of so-called Ostwald ripening. The third topic involved emplacement of noble metal nanoparticles, in particular platinum, on previously indicated locations in composite catalysts. This work has attracted worldwide attention since we could ‘steer’ Pt nanoparticle location to be either on one or the other component in bifunctional catalysts for alkane hydroisomerisation. This work has most recently been extended to lower noble metal loadings in composite catalyst without compromising their performance. The work has also attracted much interest and additional funding from industry.