Hollow and Porous Micro-/Nanostructured Materials in Catalysis

A special issue of Catalysts (ISSN 2073-4344). This special issue belongs to the section "Nanostructured Catalysts".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2024) | Viewed by 3787

Special Issue Editors

State Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Interests: fabrication of core-shelled structure; yolk-shelled structure and hollow multi-shelled structure materials with well-defined structures as well as their application in photocatalysis; electrocatalysis and thermal catalysis field
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Baoding 071003, China
Interests: biomass-derived hierarchical structure fabrication; photo-thermal catalysis for CCUS; plasma assistance for small molecular conversion
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

In recent years, we have witnessed increased interest in advanced materials for catalysis. This interdisciplinary field has been regarded as the key enabling approach to accelerate developments in energy and materials sciences. Hollow and porous micro-/nanostructured materials, such as yolk-shelled structure, hollow multi-shelled structure and hierachical pore structure materials possess attractive properties such as high specific surface area, low density, high loading capacity, and sequential matter transfer and storage, which endow them with potential applications in the field of catalysis. In recognition of the trends and frontiers of hollow and porous micro-/nanostructured materials for catalysis, a themed issue “Hollow and Porous Micro-/Nanostructured Materials in Catalysis” is planned for Catalysts. This web theme focuses on summarizing current achievements, future perspectives and latest scientific research results in the exciting and active research field of hollow and porous micro-/nanostructured materials for efficient catalytic conversion. Based on the recent development in this field, we would be able to apply rational methodologies for fine control of the hollow structural characteristics of catalytic related materials, and manufacturing process of devices for improving the efficiency and stability of catalytic conversion systems. For this special issue, we are particularly interested, but not limited to the following areas of hollow and porous micro-/nanostructured materials for catalytic application: photocatalysis, electrocatalysis, thermal catalysis, environmental catalysis, energy catalysis, biocatalysis, etc. The issue will contain a mixture of original (Communications and Full Papers) and review-type (Reviews and Concepts) articles, and you can choose which type of article you would prefer to submit or if you would like to submit more than one.

Dr. Jian Qi
Dr. Kun Zhao
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • reasonable design and controllable synthesis
  • hollow micro-/nanostructured materials
  • yolk-shelled structure
  • hollow multi-shelled structure
  • hierarchical pore structure
  • porous structure
  • photocatalysis
  • electrocatalysis
  • thermal catalysis
  • environmental catalysis
  • energy catalysis
  • biocatalysis

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 8616 KiB  
Article
Catalytic and Capacitive Properties of Hierarchical Carbon–Nickel Nanocomposites
by Hassan H. Hammud, Waleed A. Aljamhi, Dolayl E. Al-Hudairi, Nazish Parveen, Sajid Ali Ansari and Thirumurugan Prakasam
Catalysts 2024, 14(3), 181; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal14030181 - 05 Mar 2024
Viewed by 884
Abstract
Hierarchically graphitic carbon that contained nickel nanoparticles (HGC-Ni (1), (2), and (3)) were prepared by the pyrolysis of three metal complexes as follows: nickel 2,2′-biyridine dichloride, nickel terephthalate 2,2′-bipyridine, and nickel phenanthroline diaqua sulfate, respectively, in the presence of anthracene or pyrene. SEM [...] Read more.
Hierarchically graphitic carbon that contained nickel nanoparticles (HGC-Ni (1), (2), and (3)) were prepared by the pyrolysis of three metal complexes as follows: nickel 2,2′-biyridine dichloride, nickel terephthalate 2,2′-bipyridine, and nickel phenanthroline diaqua sulfate, respectively, in the presence of anthracene or pyrene. SEM indicated that the structure of the HGC-Ni samples consisted of nickel nanoparticles with a diameter of 20–500 nm embedded in a thin layer of a hierarchical graphitic carbon layer. The EDAX of HGC-Ni indicated the presence of nickel, carbon, and nitrogen. Chlorine, oxygen, and sulfur were present in (1), (2), and (3), respectively, due to the differences in their complex precursor type. XRD indicated that the nanoparticles consisted of Ni(0) atoms. The turnover frequency (TOF) for the reduction of p-nitrophenol (PNP) increased for catalysts HGC-Ni (3), (2), and (1) and were 0.0074, 0.0094, and 0.0098 mg PNP/mg catalyst/min, respectively. The TOF for the reduction of methyl orange (MO) increased for catalysts (3), (1), and (2) and were 0.0332, 0.0347, and 0.0385 mg MO/mg catalyst/min, respectively. Thus, nickel nano-catalysts (1) and (2) provided the highest performance compared to the nano-catalysts for the reduction of PNP and MO, respectively. The first-order rate constant (min−1) of HGC-Ni (3), with respect to the reduction of PNP, was 0.173 min−1, while the first-order rate constant (min−1) for the reduction of MO by HGC-Ni (1) was 0.404 min−1. HGC-Ni (3) had the highest number of cycles with respect to PNP (17.9 cycles) and MO (22.8 cycles). The catalysts were regenerated efficiently. HGC-Ni exhibited remarkable electrochemical capacitance characteristics in the present study. This material achieved a notable specific capacitance value of 320.0 F/g when measured at a current density of 2 A/g. Furthermore, its resilience was highlighted by its ability to maintain approximately 86.8% of its initial capacitance after being subjected to 2500 charge and discharge cycles. This finding suggests that this HGC-Ni composite stands out not only for its high capacitive performance but also for its durability, making it an attractive and potentially economical choice for energy-storage solutions in various technological applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hollow and Porous Micro-/Nanostructured Materials in Catalysis)
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22 pages, 18236 KiB  
Article
AgNPs Embedded in Porous Polymeric Framework: A Reusable Catalytic System for the Synthesis of α-Alkylidene Cyclic Carbonates and Oxazolidinones via Chemical Fixation of CO2
by Bipasha Banerjee, Pekham Chakrabortty, Najirul Haque, Swarbhanu Ghosh, Mitali Sarkar, Aslam Khan and Sk. Manirul Islam
Catalysts 2023, 13(12), 1467; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal13121467 - 24 Nov 2023
Viewed by 1035
Abstract
Porous polymeric frameworks have received great interest over the past few years because of their nonstop growth as crystalline porous polymeric materials connected through covalent bonds and versatile utilities in diverse fields. The production of high-value organic compounds via sustainable and environment-friendly methods [...] Read more.
Porous polymeric frameworks have received great interest over the past few years because of their nonstop growth as crystalline porous polymeric materials connected through covalent bonds and versatile utilities in diverse fields. The production of high-value organic compounds via sustainable and environment-friendly methods is an uphill struggle for researchers. The elegant strategy of using carbon dioxide as a C1 building block is an intriguing platform owing to its non-toxicity, easy accessibility, natural abundance, recyclability, non-flammability, and cheapness. Additionally, CO2 levels are regarded as the main contributor to the greenhouse effect (the most abundant greenhouse gas across the globe) and the aforementioned strategy needs to mitigate CO2 emissions. This present study describes the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) embedded in a porous polymeric framework, a reusable heterogeneous catalyst (recyclable over 5 times), TpMA (MC)@Ag. The synthesized catalyst is characterized by using FT-IR, PXRD, XPS, FE-SEM, TEM, EDAX, TGA DTA, and N2 sorption studies. Additionally, the catalysts can be easily recycled to generate the desired α-alkylidene cyclic carbonates and oxazolidinone compounds under solvent-free conditions. This research demonstrates the potential of nanoporous 2D porous polymeric framework-based materials in the area of catalysis, specially, in CO2 capture and chemical fixation. These findings offer a promising approach for the chemical fixation of CO2 into α-alkylidene cyclic carbonates and oxazolidinones from propargylic alcohols utilizing AgNPs embedded in a 2D catalyst, which functions as a potential heterogeneous catalyst under mild conditions (e.g., solvent-free approach). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hollow and Porous Micro-/Nanostructured Materials in Catalysis)
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10 pages, 2634 KiB  
Article
Anchoring Cu Species over SiO2 for Hydrogenation of Dimethyl Oxalate to Ethylene Glycol
by Xiaoguang San, Xiaohui Gong, Yiming Lu, Juhua Xu, Liming He, Dan Meng, Guosheng Wang, Jian Qi and Quan Jin
Catalysts 2022, 12(11), 1326; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal12111326 - 28 Oct 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1277
Abstract
Recently, the Cu-based catalyst has attracted wide attention for the hydrogenation of dimethyl oxalate (DMO) to ethylene glycol (EG) due to its high catalytic activity and it is low cost. However, its poor stability, ease of agglomeration, and the short life of the [...] Read more.
Recently, the Cu-based catalyst has attracted wide attention for the hydrogenation of dimethyl oxalate (DMO) to ethylene glycol (EG) due to its high catalytic activity and it is low cost. However, its poor stability, ease of agglomeration, and the short life of the catalyst restrict its further development in industrial applications. Here, we constructed a novel MOF-derived Cu/SiO2 catalyst (MOF-CmS for short) with a controllable distribution of Cu active sites for the hydrogenation of the DMO to EG reaction. The catalyst was prepared by a hydrothermal method with the HKUST-1 uniformly coated on the surface of the silica microspheres. After the calcination, the highly dispersed and uniform Cu species were loaded on the surface of the silica. The resulted MOF-CmS catalyst showed a 100% conversion of DMO and over 98% selectivity of EG at 200 °C and 2 MPa while a traditional Cu/SiO2 catalyst exhibited serious agglomeration of Cu active sites and low catalytic activity (DMO conversion of 86.9% and EG selectivity of 46.6%). It is believed that the highly dispersed active metal center and the interaction between the active metal and carrier were the main reasons for higher catalytic activity of the MOF-CmS catalyst. Therefore, the developed method opened another avenue to synthesize highly dispersed and stable Cu-based catalysts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hollow and Porous Micro-/Nanostructured Materials in Catalysis)
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