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Nano Research 2016, 9(3): 849-856 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-015-0964-y
Research Article | Issue | Published: 03 February 2016

A facile surfactant-free synthesis of Rh flower-like nanostructures constructed from ultrathin nanosheets and their enhanced catalytic properties

Show Author's Information Yaqi Jiang( ),  Jingyun Su,  Yanan Yang,  Yanyan Jia,  Qiaoli Chen,  Zhaoxiong Xie( ),  Lansun Zheng
State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid SurfacesCollaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials and Department of ChemistryCollege of Chemistry and Chemical EngineeringXiamen UniversityXiamen361005China
Keywords:
nanocrystal, nanosheet, rhodium, hydrogenation reaction
Cite this article:
Jiang Y, Su J, Yang Y, et al. A facile surfactant-free synthesis of Rh flower-like nanostructures constructed from ultrathin nanosheets and their enhanced catalytic properties. Nano Research, 2016, 9(3): 849-856. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-015-0964-y
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Rh is an important catalyst that is widely used in a variety of organic reactions. In recent years, many efforts have focused on improving its catalytic efficiency by fabricating catalyst nanoparticles with controlled size and morphology. However, the frequently employed synthesis route using organic compounds either as the reaction medium or capping agent often results in residual molecules on the catalyst surface, which in turn drastically diminishes the catalytic performance. Herein, we report a facile, aqueous, surfactant-free synthesis of a novel Rh flowerlike structure obtained via hydrothermal reduction of Rh(acac)3 by formaldehyde. The unique Rh nanoflowers were constructed from ultrathin nanosheets, whose basal surfaces comprised {111} facets with an average thickness of ~1.1 nm. The specific surface area measured by CO stripping was 79.3 m2·g-1, which was much larger than that of commercial Rh black. More importantly, the Rh nanoflower catalyst exhibited excellent catalytic performance in the catalytic hydrogenation of phenol and cyclohexene, in contrast to the commercial Rh black and polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP)-capped Rh nanosheets exposed by similar {111} basal surfaces.


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About this article

A facile surfactant-free synthesis of Rh flower-like nanostructures constructed from ultrathin nanosheets and their enhanced catalytic properties

Show Author's information Yaqi Jiang( ), Jingyun Su, Yanan Yang, Yanyan Jia, Qiaoli Chen, Zhaoxiong Xie( ), Lansun Zheng
State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid SurfacesCollaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials and Department of ChemistryCollege of Chemistry and Chemical EngineeringXiamen UniversityXiamen361005China

Abstract

Rh is an important catalyst that is widely used in a variety of organic reactions. In recent years, many efforts have focused on improving its catalytic efficiency by fabricating catalyst nanoparticles with controlled size and morphology. However, the frequently employed synthesis route using organic compounds either as the reaction medium or capping agent often results in residual molecules on the catalyst surface, which in turn drastically diminishes the catalytic performance. Herein, we report a facile, aqueous, surfactant-free synthesis of a novel Rh flowerlike structure obtained via hydrothermal reduction of Rh(acac)3 by formaldehyde. The unique Rh nanoflowers were constructed from ultrathin nanosheets, whose basal surfaces comprised {111} facets with an average thickness of ~1.1 nm. The specific surface area measured by CO stripping was 79.3 m2·g-1, which was much larger than that of commercial Rh black. More importantly, the Rh nanoflower catalyst exhibited excellent catalytic performance in the catalytic hydrogenation of phenol and cyclohexene, in contrast to the commercial Rh black and polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP)-capped Rh nanosheets exposed by similar {111} basal surfaces.

Keywords: nanocrystal, nanosheet, rhodium, hydrogenation reaction

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 23 July 2015
Revised: 25 November 2015
Accepted: 01 December 2015
Published: 03 February 2016
Issue date: March 2016

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Nos. 2011CBA00508 and 2015CB932301), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21131005, 21333008, and J1310024), and the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province of China (No. 2014J01058).

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