Catalysis, energy storage, and light harvesting require functional materials with tailored porosity and nanostructure. However, common synthesis methods that employ polymer micelles as structure-directing agents fail for zinc oxide, for cobalt oxide, and for metal carbonates in general. We report the synthesis of the oxides and carbonates of zinc, cobalt, and aluminum with micelle-templated structure. The synthesis relies on poly(ethylene oxide)-block-poly(butadiene)-block-poly(ethylene oxide) triblock copolymers and a new type of precursor formed by chemical complexation of a metal nitrate with citric acid. A general synthesis mechanism is deduced. Mechanistic insights allow for the prediction of optimal processing conditions for different oxides and carbonates based on simple thermogravimetric analysis. Employing this synthesis, films of ZnO and Co3O4 with micelle-controlled mesoporosity become accessible for the first time. It is the only soft-templating method reported so far that also yields mesoporous metal carbonates. The developed synthesis is generic in nature and can be applied to many other metal oxides and carbonates.
Pd/TiO2 coatings with template-controlled mesopore structure as highly active hydrogenation catalyst
(2015)
Micro-structured reactors offer excellent mass and heat transport capabilities and can therefore sustain very high reaction rates and space–time-yields also for highly exothermic catalytic reactions. However, such high rates cannot be reached when the reactors are coated or filled with conventional catalysts powders. We present a strategy for the direct synthesis of highly active wall-coated supported catalysts via co-deposition of a pore template (here micelles formed from PEO-b-PPO-b-PEO) and a precursors for the metal oxide (TiCl4) along with a compatible precursor for the active metal (PdCl2). The obtained catalytic coatings possess a template-controlled open pore structure and excellent mechanical stability. Moreover, the active metal is highly dispersed and well-distributed across the coating also at high Pd loadings. The corresponding high activity along with rapid mass transfer enabled by the open pore system results in the best space–time-yields in the gas-phase hydrogenation of butadiene reported so far in literature for a supported catalyst.