A General Route to Hollow Mesoporous Rare‐Earth Silicate Nanospheres as a Catalyst Support

Abstract

Hollow mesoporous structures have recently aroused intense research interest owing to their unique structural features. Herein, an effective and precisely controlled synthesis of hollow rare-earth silicate spheres with mesoporous shells is reported for the first time, produced by a simple hydrothermal method, using silica spheres as the silica precursors. The as-prepared hollow rare-earth silicate spheres have large specific surface area, high pore volume, and controllable structure parameters. The results demonstrate that the selection of the chelating reagent plays critical roles in forming the hollow mesoporous structures. In addition, a simple and low-energy-consuming approach to synthesize highly stable and dispersive gold nanoparticle-yttrium silicate (AuNPs/YSiO) hollow nanocomposites has also been developed. The reduction of 4-nitrophenol with AuNPs/YSiO hollow nanocomposites as the catalyst has clearly demonstrated that the hollow rare-earth silicate spheres are good carriers for Au nanoparticles. This strategy can be extended as a general approach to prepare multifunctional yolk-shell structures with diverse compositions and morphologies simply by replacing silica spheres with silica-coated nanocomposites.

Basic concepts and recent advances in nitrophenol reduction by gold- and other transition metal nanoparticles

“…The reduction of 4-NP to 4-AP by NaBH 4 was employed as a model system to evaluate the catalytic activity of AuNPs/YSiO hollow nanocomposites. Excellent catalytic properties of this nanomaterial were confirmed, and the rate constant k is 1.197 × 10 −2 s −1 [96].…”

Engineering heterogenous catalysts for chemical CO2 utilization: Lessons from thermal catalysis and advantages of yolk@shell structured nanoreactors

“…Another defining feature is the porous which allows for the diffusion of reactants and products in and out of the shell while protecting the core. Generally, these particles consist of a metal or metal oxide core within an inorganic or polymeric shell; common choices for which are silica or carbon as these are highly stable, abundant and inert [297][298][299]. There are also limited reports of the use of Ceria [300] and Iron [301] as shell media.…”

Advanced yolk-shell nanoparticles as nanoreactors for energy conversion

“…Generally, YSNs have a metal or metal oxide core that is encapsulated in inorganic or polymer shells of various shapes. Silica and carbon are the commonest shell materials because of their simple functionality, high biocompatibility, stability, and abundance [9][10][11][12]. Conducting polymers are also good shell materials because of their inertness and high conductivity and, most importantly, the possibility of tailoring their functional groups [13].…”