Diffusion-Driven Selectivity in Oxidation of CO in the Presence of Propylene Using Zeolite Nano Shell as Membrane

Solid-State Reaction Synthesis of Nanoscale Materials: Strategies and Applications

Nanomaterials (NMs) with unique structures and compositions can give rise to exotic physicochemical properties and applications. Despite the advancement in solution-based methods, scalable access to a wide range of crystal phases and intricate compositions is still challenging. Solid-state reaction (SSR) syntheses have high potential owing to their flexibility toward multielemental phases under feasibly high temperatures and solvent-free conditions as well as their scalability and simplicity. Controlling the nanoscale features through SSRs demands a strategic nanospace-confinement approach due to the risk of heat-induced reshaping and sintering. Here, we describe advanced SSR strategies for NM synthesis, focusing on mechanistic insights, novel nanoscale phenomena, and underlying principles using a series of examples under different categories. After introducing the history of classical SSRs, key theories, and definitions central to the topic, we categorize various modern SSR strategies based on the surrounding solid-state media used for nanostructure growth, conversion, and migration under nanospace or dimensional confinement. This comprehensive review will advance the quest for new materials design, synthesis, and applications.

OUP accepted manuscript

The rational design synthesis of zeolite catalysts with effective, environmentally benign and atom-economic routes is a major topic in the field of microporous materials, as it would avoid the high labor cost and inefficiency of traditional trial-and-error methods in developing new structures and dispel environmental concerns regarding the industrial mass production of zeolites. Catalytic applications of zeolite materials have expanded from conventional single functionalities, such as solid acids or selective oxidation catalysts to bi/multifunctionalities through combination with metals or metal oxides. This is a response to new requirements from petrochemical and fine chemical industries, such as precise control of product distribution, conversion of low-carbon resources for chemical production, and solutions to increasingly severe environmental problems related to CO₂ and NO_x. Thus, based on the systematic knowledge of zeolite chemistry and science that researchers have acquired in the past half-century and the development requirements, remarkable progress has been made in zeolite synthesis and catalysis in the past 10 years. This includes the manipulation of zeolitic monolayers derived from layered zeolites and germanosilicates to construct novel zeolite materials and effective and green zeolite syntheses as well as the synergistic interaction of zeolites and metal/metal oxides with different space distributions in the conversion of low-carbon resources. With many zeolite catalysts and catalytic processes being developed, our understanding of the close relationship between zeolite synthesis, structure and catalytic properties has deepened. Researchers are gradually approaching the goal of rationally designing zeolite catalysts with precisely controlled activity and selectivity for particular applications.

Advances in Catalytic Applications of Zeolite-Supported Metal Catalysts

Zeolites possessing large specific surface areas, ordered micropores, and adjustable acidity/basicity have emerged as ideal supports to immobilize metal species with small sizes and high dispersities. In recent years, the zeolite-supported metal catalysts have been widely used in diverse catalytic processes, showing excellent activity, superior thermal/hydrothermal stability, and unique shape-selectivity. In this review, a comprehensive summary of the state-of-the-art achievements in catalytic applications of zeolite-supported metal catalysts are presented for important heterogeneous catalytic processes in the last five years, mainly including 1) the hydrogenation reactions (e.g., CO/CO₂ hydrogenation, hydrogenation of unsaturated compounds, and hydrogenation of nitrogenous compounds); 2) dehydrogenation reactions (e.g., alkane dehydrogenation and dehydrogenation of chemical hydrogen storage materials); 3) oxidation reactions (e.g., CO oxidation, methane oxidation, and alkene epoxidation); and 4) other reactions (e.g., hydroisomerization reaction and selective catalytic reduction of NO_x with ammonia reaction). Finally, some current limitations and future perspectives on the challenge and opportunity for this subject are pointed out. It is believed that this review will inspire more innovative research on the synthesis and catalysis of zeolite-supported metal catalysts and promote their future developments to meet the emerging demands for practical applications.

Hierarchical Zeolites-confined Metal Catalysts and Their Enhanced Catalytic Performances

The confinement of metal species within hierarchical zeolites combines the acidic/basic sites of zeolites, the enhanced mass transfer of mesoporous system, and the inside active metal sites, leading to high activity, unique selectivity, and superior stability in chemicals synthesis, energy and environment catalysis. To date, review on this emerging topic is rarely reported. Herein, we classify five metals-hierarchical zeolites composite (metal@hierarchical zeolites) according to the location of metals on hierarchical structure, including metals located on micropores, intercrystalline mesopores, intracrystalline mesopores, hollow nanobox and mesoporous shells. The synthesis and catalysis applications of metal@hierarchical zeolites composite are provided, highlighting the rational design of catalyst preparation, the improved catalytic efficiency and stability of metal species. Finally, we discuss the current limitations and future opportunities for this emerging field. This Review is expected to inspire more developments and applications of metal@hierarchical zeolites.

Controlled Nanostructure of Zeolite Crystal Encapsulating FeMnK Catalysts Targeting Light Olefins from Syngas

Light olefins (C₂⁼-C₄⁼) are important basic raw materials in chemical industries. Direct production of light olefins from syngas using zeolite encapsulation catalysts shows great potential due to their regulation of product distribution in the Fischer-Tropsch process. Herein, we report a series of silicalite-1 zeolite-encapsulated FeMnK catalysts with distinct nanostructures, including FeMnK@S-1, FeMnK@Hol-S-1, and FeMnK@HM-S-1. It was found that the FeMnK@HM-S-1 catalyst (encapsulation of FeMnK oxide in hollow mesoporous silicalite-1 crystal) had an enhanced C₂⁼-C₄⁼ selectivity of 49% at a CO conversion of 12%. Our results revealed that superior light olefins selectivity of the FeMnK@HM-S-1 catalyst was achieved by the synergic effect between the inherent silicalite-1 micropores and the hollow mesoporous structure, which is responsible for restricting heavy hydrocarbon (C₅⁺) formation, maximizing C₂-C₄ hydrocarbons selectivity, quickly removing the primary light olefin products, and increasing the O/P ratio. We demonstrated that the enhanced CO adsorption and the declined H₂ adsorption (lower [H*]/[C*] ratio) over the FeMnK@HM-S-1 catalyst could also facilitate the olefin synthesis. This work provides guidance for reasonable designing of F-T catalysts to tailor product selectivity.

Metal Nanoparticles Confined within an Inorganic-Organic Framework Enable Superior Substrate-Selective Catalysis

The search for catalysts with a perfect substrate selectivity toward the hydrogenation of nitroarenes is a goal of high importance, which still remains a significant challenge. Here, we designed a new type of catalyst with superior substrate selectivity by combining a space-confined effect and a hydrogen-bonding network, in which metal nanoparticles (MNPs) were confined in hierarchical hollow silica (HHS) with a poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPA) coating. Given the strong induced properties of hydrogen-bond donors and acceptors in the HHS support and PNIPA coating, the as-synthesized catalyst would achieve perfect substrate selectivity for the hydrogenation of various nitroarenes and their mixture by thoroughly impeding the reduction of nitroarenes with any hydroxyl or carboxyl groups, which is typically very difficult to be realized over almost all of the reported supported-metal catalysts. Notably, the hydrogenation of nitroarenes can produce almost quantitative yields of anilines over the as-synthesized catalyst. Furthermore, density functional theory and experimental evidence are also provided for the hierarchical structure of HHS and PNIPA coating associated with substrates to demonstrate how a substrate could have access or be blocked into the confined active centers (MNPs). Therefore, this work would open a new window to design efficient catalysts for a wide variety of substrate-selective catalyses.

Ultrafine Rh nanoparticles confined by nitrogen-rich covalent organic frameworks for methanolysis of ammonia borane

An Rh/PC-COF was synthesized using a metal–nitrogen coordination reduction strategy and was applied as a highly efficient catalyst for methanolysis of ammonia borane.

Hollow MFI Zeolite Supported Pt Catalysts for Highly Selective and Stable Hydrodeoxygenation of Guaiacol to Cycloalkanes

Hollow Silicalite-1 and ZSM-5 zeolites with hierarchical porous shells have been synthesized by using a dissolution-recrystallization method. The morphology, structure, and acidity of these zeolites supported Pt catalysts were characterized by XRD, FT-IR, MAS-SSNMR, FE-SEM, FE-TEM, N₂-BET, XPS, NH₃-TPD, and CO pulse chemisorption. Compared to the conventional ZSM-5 supported Pt catalyst, the special structure in hollow ZSM-5 zeolite significantly promotes the dispersion of metallic Pt and the synergistic effect between metal active sites and acid sites. These boost the catalytic activity, selectivity of guaiacol hydrodeoxygenation toward cycloalkanes and long-term stability over the Pt/hollow ZSM-5 catalyst combined with improved mass transfer of products and reactants derived from the hierarchical hollow porous structure. Moreover, the Pt/hollow ZSM-5 catalyst exhibits excellent low temperature catalytic activity to completely transform guaiacol into cycloalkanes with the cyclohexane selectivity of more than 93% at 220 °C, suggesting that hollow ZSM-5 zeolite is a promising support for upgrading of bio-oils.

Ultrasmall Metal Nanoparticles Confined within Crystalline Nanoporous Materials: A Fascinating Class of Nanocatalysts

Crystalline nanoporous materials with uniform porous structures, such as zeolites and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), have proven to be ideal supports to encapsulate ultrasmall metal nanoparticles (MNPs) inside their void nanospaces to generate high-efficiency nanocatalysts. The nanopore-encaged metal catalysts exhibit superior catalytic performance as well as high stability and catalytic shape selectivity endowed by the nanoporous matrix. In addition, the synergistic effect of confined MNPs and nanoporous frameworks with active sites can further promote the catalytic activities of the composite catalysts. Herein, recent progress in nanopore-encaged metal nanocatalysts is reviewed, with a special focus on advances in synthetic strategies for ultrasmall MNPs (<5 nm), clusters, and even single atoms confined within zeolites and MOFs for various heterogeneous catalytic reactions. In addition, some advanced characterization methods to elucidate the atomic-scale structures of the nanocatalysts are presented, and the current limitations of and future opportunities for these fantastic nanocatalysts are also highlighted and discussed. The aim is to provide some guidance for the rational synthesis of nanopore-encaged metal catalysts and to inspire their further applications to meet the emerging demands in catalytic fields.

Synthesis of Engineered Zeolitic Materials: From Classical Zeolites to Hierarchical Core-Shell Materials

The term "engineered zeolitic materials" refers to a class of materials with a rationally designed pore system and active-sites distribution. They are primarily made of crystalline microporous zeolites as the main building blocks, which can be accompanied by other secondary components to form composite materials. These materials are of potential importance in many industrial fields like catalysis or selective adsorption. Herein, critical aspects related to the synthesis and modification of such materials are discussed. The first section provides a short introduction on classical zeolite structures and properties, and their conventional synthesis methods. Then, the motivating rationale behind the growing demand for structural alteration of these zeolitic materials is discussed, with an emphasis on the ongoing struggles regarding mass-transfer issues. The state-of-the-art techniques that are currently available for overcoming these hurdles are reviewed. Following this, the focus is set on core-shell composites as one of the promising pathways toward the creation of a new generation of highly versatile and efficient engineered zeolitic substances. The synthesis approaches developed thus far to make zeolitic core-shell materials and their analogues, yolk-shell, and hollow materials, are also examined and summarized. Finally, the last section concisely reviews the performance of novel core-shell, yolk-shell, and hollow zeolitic materials for some important industrial applications.

High-silica hollow Y zeolite by selective desilication of dealuminated NaY crystals in the presence of protective Al species

High-silica hollow faujasite crystals were obtained by dealumination of standard NaY crystals followed by their selective desilication in the presence of protective aluminum species.

One-Step Synthesis of Zeolite Membranes Containing Catalytic Metal Nanoclusters

Metal-loaded zeolitic membranes are promising candidates as catalytic membrane reactors. We report a one-step synthesis method to synthesize zeolite membranes containing metal nanoclusters, that has advantages in comparison to multistep methods such as impregnation and ion exchange. Pure-silica MFI zeolite-Pt hybrid membranes were prepared by hydrothermal synthesis with addition of 3-mercaptopropyl-trimethoxysilane (MPS) and a platinum precursor. Composition analysis and mapping by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) reveal that Pt ions/clusters are uniformly distributed along the membrane cross-section. High-magnification scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) analysis shows that Pt metal clusters in the hybrid zeolite membrane have a diameter distribution in the range of 0.5-2.0 nm. In contrast, a pure-silica MFI membrane synthesized from an MPS-free solution shows negligible incorporation of Pt metal clusters. To characterize the properties of the hybrid (zeolite/metal) membrane, it was used as a catalytic membrane reactor (CMR) for high-temperature propane dehydrogenation (PDH) at 600 °C and 1 atm. The results indicate that Pt metal clusters formed within the MFI zeolite membrane can serve as effective catalysts for high-temperature PDH reaction along with H2 removal via membrane permeation, thereby increasing both conversion and selectivity in relation to a conventional membrane reactor containing an equivalent amount of packed Pt catalyst in contact with an MFI membrane. The hybrid zeolite-Pt CMR also showed stable conversion and selectivity upon extended high-temperature operation (12 h), indicating that encapsulation in the zeolite allowed thermal stabilization of the Pt nanoclusters and reduced catalyst deactivation.

Encapsulating Palladium Nanoparticles Inside Mesoporous MFI Zeolite Nanocrystals for Shape-Selective Catalysis

Pd nanoparticles were successfully encapsulated inside mesoporous silicalite-1 nanocrystals (Pd@mnc-S1) by a one-pot method. The as-synthesized Pd@mnc-S1 with excellent stability functioned as an active and reusable heterogeneous catalyst. The unique porosity and nanostructure of silicalite-1 crystals endowed the Pd@mnc-S1 material general shape-selectivity for various catalytic reactions, including selective hydrogenation, oxidation, and carbon-carbon coupling reactions.

A Pt/Al2O3-supported metal–organic framework film as the size-selective core–shell hydrogenation catalyst

The substituted imidazolate-based MOF (SIM-1) easily forms a homogeneous layer at the surface of millimetric platinum-loaded alumina beads. This new core–shell SIM-1@Pt/Al₂O₃ catalyst shows the fine molecular sieving effect for the Pt-catalyzed hydrogenation of carbon–carbon double bonds.

Sharp size-selective catalysis in a liquid solution over Pd nanoparticles encapsulated in hollow silicalite-1 zeolite crystals

Pd nanoparticles encapsulated in a hollow silicalite-1 zeolite with sharp size-selective catalysis in solution was designed by a lab-in-a-shell method.

Perspectives on zeolite-encapsulated metal nanoparticles and their applications in catalysis

Recent strategies for the design of zeolites with unusual architectures and porosities offer many opportunities for the encapsulation of catalysts.