sc8b03858_si_001.pdf (1.01 MB)
Rational Design of High-Performance Continuous-Flow Microreactors Based on Gold Nanoclusters and Graphene for Catalysis
journal contribution
posted on 2018-09-20, 00:00 authored by Yanbiao Liu, Xiang Liu, Shengnan Yang, Fang Li, Chensi Shen, Manhong Huang, Junjing Li, Ricca Rahman Nasaruddin, Jianping XieIn
this work, we rationally designed a high-performance microreactor
system for continuous-flow catalysis. The membrane consists of ultrasmall
gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) and two-dimensional graphene. The Au cores
of the NCs act as catalysts, while their ligands have two functions:
(1) protecting the Au cores to avoid agglomeration and (2) providing
a well-defined surfactant assembly to disperse graphene in aqueous
solution. Hydrogenation of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) was employed as model
reaction to evaluate catalytic activity. The catalytic membrane microreactor
demonstrated excellent catalytic activity and stability, where complete
4-NP conversion was readily achieved via a single pass through the
membrane. This desirable performance was maintained over 12 h of continuous
operation, although a certain amount of organic buildup on the membrane
was observed. The catalytic membrane microreactor outperforms conventional
batch reactors due to its improved mass transport. 4-NP-spiked real
water samples were also completely converted. This study provides
new insights for the rational design of membrane reactors for industrial
applications.