Popping of graphite oxide: application in preparing metal nanoparticle catalysts.

Gao, Yongjun; Chen, Xi; Zhang, Jiaguang; Asakura, Hiroyuki; Tanaka, Tsunehiro; Teramura, Kentaro; Ma, Ding; Yan, Ning · Adv Mater · 2015

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

A popcorn-like transformation of graphite oxide (GO) is reported and used to synthesize metal nanoparticle catalysts. The popping step is unique and essential, not only generating a high-surface-area support but also partially decomposing the metal precursors to form well-separated metal oxide nuclei, which would further evolve into highly dispersed and uniform-sized nanoparticles in the subsequent reduction.