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Stepwise structural evolution toward robust carboranealkynyl-protected copper nanocluster catalysts for nitrate

Jie Wang¹, Jinmeng Cai¹, Kai-Xin Ren¹

¹Henan Key Laboratory of Crystalline Molecular Functional Materials, Henan International Joint Laboratory of Tumor Theranostical Cluster Materials, Green Catalysis Center, and College of Chemistry, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China.

Science Advances

|May 1, 2024

Summary

Researchers developed stable copper nanoclusters (NCs) for catalysis. These copper NCs show high activity and selectivity in electrocatalytic nitrate reduction to ammonia, with dimers performing best.

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Area of Science:

Catalysis
Nanomaterials Science
Electrochemistry

Background:

Atomically precise metal nanoclusters (NCs) offer ideal models for understanding structure-activity relationships in catalysis.
Synthesizing robust NCs with accessible active sites presents a significant challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop novel copper nanoclusters (NCs) with enhanced stability and accessible catalytic sites.
To investigate the catalytic performance of these NCs in electrocatalytic nitrate reduction.
To elucidate the reaction mechanism through computational and experimental methods.

Main Methods:

Stepwise synthesis of bulky carboranealkynyl-protected copper NCs (monomer Cu_x·3PF₆ and dimer Cu_x·4PF₆) via ligand shell modification and metal-core evolution.
Electrocatalytic nitrate reduction to ammonia reaction studies.
Theoretical computations and in situ FTIR spectroscopy for mechanistic elucidation.

Main Results:

Successful synthesis of stable monomer and dimer copper NCs with accessible open metal sites.
Both NCs exhibited remarkable catalytic activity and selectivity for nitrate reduction to ammonia.
The dimer copper NC (Cu_x·4PF₆) demonstrated superior catalytic performance compared to the monomer.

Conclusions:

The study presents effective strategies for synthesizing tailored copper NC catalysts.
The developed copper NCs serve as a platform for exploring structure-activity relationships in catalysis.
This work advances the field of NC catalysis for important chemical transformations like ammonia synthesis from nitrate.