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Reverse Microemulsion-mediated Synthesis of Monometallic and Bimetallic Early Transition Metal Carbide and Nitride Nanoparticles
Published on: November 27, 2015
Surfactant Removal for Colloidal Nanocrystal Catalysts Mediated by N-Heterocyclic Carbenes
Perrin Godbold1, Grayson Johnson1, Akachukwu D Obi1
1Department of Chemistry, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22904, United States.
Abstract:
We report the facile removal of surfactants from colloidally synthesized nanocrystals via ligand exchange with N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs). Subsequent protonation of the NHC ligands in acid efficiently cleans the nanocrystals' surface while preserving their uniform morphology and structure for catalysis. The broad efficacy of this strategy is validated using monodisperse Pt, Pd, and Au nanocrystals, each prepared with strongly bound phosphine stabilizers. The surface-activated nanocrystals exhibit significantly improved catalytic activities, superior to those obtained with other surface cleaning methods, as demonstrated in two centrally important electrochemical reactions (glycerol oxidation and CO2 reduction). This work highlights a new surface activation strategy for catalysis and other applications that enables the efficient use of well-defined nanocrystal libraries prepared by colloidal chemistry.
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