High catalytic activity of oriented 2.0.0 copper(I) oxide grown on graphene film.

Primo, Ana; Esteve-Adell, Ivan; Blandez, Juan F; Dhakshinamoorthy, Amarajothi; Álvaro, Mercedes; Candu, Natalia; Coman, Simona M; Parvulescu, Vasile I et al. · Nat Commun · 2015

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Metal oxide nanoparticles supported on graphene exhibit high catalytic activity for oxidation, reduction and coupling reactions. Here we show that pyrolysis at 900 °C under inert atmosphere of copper(II) nitrate embedded in chitosan films affords 1.1.1 facet-oriented copper nanoplatelets supported on few-layered graphene. Oriented (1.1.1) copper nanoplatelets on graphene undergo spontaneous oxidation to render oriented (2.0.0) copper(I) oxide nanoplatelets on few-layered graphene. These films containing oriented copper(I) oxide exhibit as catalyst turnover numbers that can be three orders of magnitude higher for the Ullmann-type coupling, dehydrogenative coupling of dimethylphenylsilane with n-butanol and C-N cross-coupling than those of analogous unoriented graphene-supported copper(I) oxide nanoplatelets.