Designed Precursor for the Controlled Synthesis of Highly Active Atomic and Sub-nanometric Platinum Catalysts on Mesoporous Silica

Abstract

The development of new methods to synthesize nanometric metal catalysts has always been an important and prerequisite step in advanced catalysis. Herein, we design a stable nitrogen ligated Pt complex for the straightforward synthesis by carbonization of uniformly sized atomic and sub-nanometric Pt catalysts supported on mesoporous silica. During the carbonization of the Pt precursor into active Pt species, the nitrogen-containing ligand directed the decomposition in a controlled fashion to maintain uniform sizes of the Pt species. The nitrogen ligand had a key role to stabilize the single Pt atoms on a weak anchoring support like silica. The Pt catalysts exhibited remarkable activities in the hydrogenation of common organic functional groups with turnover frequencies higher than in previous studies. By a simple post-synthetic treatment, we could selectively remove the Pt nanoparticles to obtain a mixture of single atoms and nanoclusters, extending the applicability of the present method.