China University of Science and Technology invents a new metal catalyst-China Youth Daily

(Reporter Wang Lei, correspondent Yang Baoguo) Recently, Professor Xiong Yujie's group at the University of Science and Technology of China has designed a unique class of metallic palladium nanomaterials with high catalytic activity and solar energy utilization characteristics. It has been shown in light-driven organic hydrogenation Excellent catalytic performance, the catalytic conversion efficiency of 70 ° C heating reaction can be achieved under room temperature light. The results were recently published in the internationally renowned chemical journal "German Applied Chemistry".

 

    Metal palladium is a highly efficient catalyst for many organic reactions. For example, its interaction with hydrogen makes it excellent in catalytic performance for hydrogenation reactions. However, compared with common gold and silver, conventional metal palladium nanomaterials have a lower ability to absorb sunlight, and the absorption range is limited to the ultraviolet band which only accounts for 5% of solar energy, which brings great difficulties to solar energy capture and utilization.

 

    In response to this challenge, Xiong Yujie's group designed a class of metal palladium nanomaterials with a concave structure of 50 nanometers. By reducing the structural symmetry and increasing the particle size, they can absorb light in a wide range of visible light. The photothermal effect is sufficient to provide a heat source for the organic hydrogenation reaction. So far, photo-driven catalytic reactions based on metal materials are still an emerging research direction, and the industry's role in the process of metal materials is still unclear. This progress not only provides the possibility of using solar energy to replace heat sources to drive organic catalytic reactions, but also has an important role in promoting the scientific design of related catalytic materials. It is expected to be applied to the photochemical synthesis of important chemicals in the future.