Fibrous Nano-Silica Supported Ruthenium (KCC-1/Ru): A Sustainable Catalyst for the Hydrogenolysis of Alkanes with Good Catalytic Activity and Lifetime

Abstract

We have shown that fibrous nanosilica (KCC-1) can serve as a suitable support for the synthesis of highly dispersed ruthenium (Ru) nanoparticles. The resulting KCC-1/Ru catalyst displayed superior activity for the hydrogenolysis of propane and ethane at atmospheric pressure and at low temperature. The high catalytic activity was due to the formation of Ru-nanoparticles with an active size range (1−4 nm) and the presence of hexagonal-shaped particles with several corners and sharp edges possessing reactive atoms with lowest coordination numbers. The catalyst was stable with an excellent lifetime and no sign of deactivation, even after eight days. This enhanced stability may be due to the fibrous nature of KCC-1 which restricts Ostwald ripening of Ru nanoparticles.

Fibrous silica mesoporous ZSM-5 for carbon monoxide methanation

“…In recent study, Fihri et al reported the application of fibrous nano-silica supported ruthenium (KCC-1/Ru) in hydrogenolysis of alkanes[55]. The results showed that high catalytic activity was due to the highly accessible KCC-1 support while excellent stability was probably due to the fibrous nature of the support.…”

Dendrimer-Stabilized Ru Nanoparticles Immobilized in Organo-Silica Materials for Hydrogenation of Phenols

“…It should be noted, that hydrogenolysis is a common trend for Ru-based catalysts [6]. Thus, hydrogenolysis of alkylphenols and phenolic ethers was earlier reported in [57], while hydrolysis of alkanes was observed in [105].…”

Heterogeneous Fe3O4@chitosan-Schiff base Pd nanocatalyst: Fabrication, characterization and application as highly efficient and magnetically-recoverable catalyst for Suzuki–Miyaura and Heck–Mizoroki C–C coupling reactions

“…With the advent of nanoscience, chemists achieved that the best solution to lower activity limitation of heterogeneous catalysts is to keep the size of the particles in the heterogeneous catalyst as small as possible. Nowadays a wide variety of nanostructured catalysts or catalytic systems immobilized on nanostructured supports have been applied in various catalytic reactions and as results heterogeneous catalytic systems recently have attracted much attention [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13].…”