Interfacing with silica boosts the catalysis of copper.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 30135546.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-018-05757-6 and PMC identifier 6105597.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Metal-support interaction is one of the most important parameters in controlling the catalysis of supported metal catalysts. Silica, a widely used oxide support, has been rarely reported as an effective support to create active metal-support interfaces for promoting catalysis. In this work, by coating Cu microparticles with mesoporous SiO<sub>2</sub>, we discover that Cu/SiO<sub>2</sub> interface creates an exceptional effect to promote catalytic hydrogenation of esters. Both computational and experimental studies reveal that Cu-H<sup>δ-</sup> and SiO-H<sup>δ+</sup> species would be formed at the Cu-O-SiO<sub>x</sub> interface upon H<sub>2</sub> dissociation, thus promoting the ester hydrogenation by stablizing the transition states. Based on the proposed catalytic mechanism, encapsulting copper phyllosilicate nanotubes with mesoporous silica followed by hydrogen reduction is developed as an effective method to create a practical Cu nanocatalyst with abundant Cu-O-SiO<sub>x</sub> interfaces. The catalyst exhibits the best performance in the hydrogenation of dimethyl oxalate to ethylene glycol among all reported Cu catalysts.