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A facile and scalable synthesis method of bimetallic alloyed nanoparticlesviapreferential chemical vapor deposition was developed, leading to a highly active and selective catalyst with a well-defined ordered structure.

Safe-and-sustainable-by-design (SSbD) is a concept that takes a systems approach by integrating safety, sustainability, and functionality throughout a product’s the life cycle. This paper proposes a framework based on a prospective life cycle assessment for early safety and sustainability assessment. The framework’s purpose is to identify environmental sustainability and toxicity hotspots early in the innovation process for future SSbD applicability. If this is impossible, key performance indicators are assessed. Environmental sustainability aspects, such as global warming potential (GWP) and cumulative energy demand (CED), and toxicity aspects, such as human toxicity potential and freshwater ecotoxicity potential, were assessed upon applying the framework on a case study. The case study regarded using nano-titanium dioxide (P25-TiO2) or a modified nano-coated version (Cu2O-coated/P25-TiO2) as photocatalysts to produce hydrogen from water using sunlight. Although there was a decrease in environmental impact (GWP and CED), the modified nano-coated version had a relatively higher level of human toxicity and freshwater eco-toxicity. For the presented case study, SSbD alternatives need to be considered that improve the photocatalytic activity but are not toxic to the environment. This case study illustrates the importance of performing an early safety and environmental sustainability assessment to avoid the development of toxic alternatives.

Detailed structural and catalytic studies of ZnO/Cu/Al2O3 catalysts, aimed at deriving a better understanding of the methanol selectivity-structure relationship in the Cu-ZnO system for catalytic hydrogenation of carbon dioxide, have...

The ever-growing levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in our atmosphere, is at once a threat and an opportunity. The development of sustainable and cost-effective pathways to convert CO2 to value-added...

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Nanostructured Pt/CeO2 with different loadings of platinum was successfully synthesized via redox reaction along with wet impregnation method. The catalytic performance of the synthesized nanocatalysts was evaluated for abatement of toluene from waste gas stream. The synthesized nanocatalysts were characterized using XRD, FESEM, TEM, N2 adsorption, FTIR and TPR-H2 techniques. Crystallographic analysis confirmed the formation of CeO2 as crystalline phase with average crystallite size of 10.5 nm. Morphological analysis showed that majority of the synthesized CeO2 particles were less than 100 nm with average particle size of 50.62 nm. TEM analysis illustrated that platinum particles were fairly well dispersed with an average size of 5-15 nm. Specific surface analysis revealed that the synthesized nanocatalysts had large enough surface area for catalytic oxidation of toluene. Temperature programmed reduction profiles indicated that Pt/CeO2 had more reducibility compared to pure ceria. The results of catalytic experiments showed that the synthesized catalysts had the ability to remove 99% of toluene via total oxidation. According to these results, the best loading of Pt on ceria was 0.5 wt% with higher activity compared to pure ceria.