Mesoporous Metal–Metalloid Amorphous Alloys: The First Synthesis of Open 3D Mesoporous Ni‐B Amorphous Alloy Spheres via a Dual Chemical Reduction Method

Abstract

Selective hydrogenation of nitriles is an industrially relevant synthetic route for the preparation of primary amines. Amorphous metal–boron alloys have a tunable, glass‐like structure that generates a high concentration of unsaturated metal surface atoms that serve as active sites in hydrogenation reactions. Here, a method to create nanoparticles composed of mesoporous 3D networks of amorphous nickel–boron (Ni‐B) alloy is reported. The hydrogenation of benzyl cyanide to β‐phenylethylamine is used as a model reaction to assess catalytic performance. The mesoporous Ni‐B alloy spheres have a turnover frequency value of 11.6 h−1, which outperforms non‐porous Ni‐B spheres with the same composition. The bottom‐up synthesis of mesoporous transition metal–metalloid alloys expands the possible reactions that these metal architectures can perform while simultaneously incorporating more Earth‐abundant catalysts.

Soft Template‐Based Synthesis of Mesoporous Phosphorus‐ and Boron‐Codoped NiFe‐Based Alloys for Efficient Oxygen Evolution Reaction

“…[ 29 ] To the best of our knowledge, there have been few studies on the synthesis of NiFe‐based materials consisting of well‐defined mesoporous nanospheres. Unlike Ni‐ or Co‐based ions, [ 30,31 ] dissolved Fe species can readily form hydroxides. [ 32 ] In addition, Fe species also tend to form unstable green rust, that is, Fe II x Fe III y (O,OH,Cl) z , which can be further oxidized to Fe III OOH.…”

Heterostructuring Mesoporous 2D Iridium Nanosheets with Amorphous Nickel Boron Oxide Layers to Improve Electrolytic Water Splitting

“…[29][30][31] Due to its unique short-range ordered and long-range disordered atomic arrangement, amorphous phases have a greater proportion of coordinatively unsaturated sites, facilitating ion diffusion and adsorption of reactants. [32][33][34] In addition, the flexibility of the local structure in amorphous phases can accelerate charge transfer between active sites and intermediates. Metal-boron amorphous materials, in particular, are promising catalysts for several applications, including petrochemical production, energy conversion and environmental catalysis.…”

A General Polymer‐Oriented Acid‐Mediated Self‐Assembly Approach toward Crystalline Mesoporous Metal Sulfides

“…[21,22] In comparison, the soft-templating method is a more promising strategy for the synthesis of mesoporous non-siliceous materials such as metal oxides, polymers, and carbons. [23][24][25][26][27] This method employs block copolymers or surfactants as soft templates to self-assemble with inorganic precursors to form the inorganic-organic mesophase composites via hydrogen bonding or electrostatic interactions. [10,26,28] However, the application of this method to prepare MMSs mainly faces the following challenges: 1) The high reaction activity between metal ions and S 2− ions and small solubility product constant (Ksp) of metal sulfides make them quickly precipitate in the reaction system.…”