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    Controlling the speciation and reactivity of carbon-supported gold nanostructures for catalysed acetylene hydrochlorination
    (Cambridge : RSC, 2018) Kaiser, Selina K.; Lin, Ronghe; Mitchell, Sharon; Fako, Edvin; Krumeich, Frank; Hauert, Roland; Safonova, Olga V.; Kondratenko, Vita A.; Kondratenko, Evgenii V.; Collins, Sean M.; Midgley, Paul A.; López, Núria; Pérez-Ramírez, Javier
    Carbon-supported gold catalysts have the potential to replace the toxic mercuric chloride-based system applied industrially for acetylene hydrochlorination, a key technology for the manufacture of polyvinyl chloride. However, the design of an optimal catalyst is essentially hindered by the difficulties in assessing the nature of the active site. Herein, we present a platform of carbon supported gold nanostructures at a fixed metal loading, ranging from single atoms of tunable oxidation state and coordination to metallic nanoparticles, by varying the structure of functionalised carbons and use of thermal activation. While on activated carbon particle aggregation occurs progressively above 473 K, on nitrogen-doped carbon gold single atoms exhibit outstanding stability up to temperatures of 1073 K and under reaction conditions. By combining steady-state experiments, density functional theory, and transient mechanistic studies, we assess the relation between the metal speciation, electronic properties, and catalytic activity. The results indicate that the activity of gold-based catalysts correlates with the population of Au(i)Cl single atoms and the reaction follows a Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism. Strong interaction with HCl and thermodynamically favoured acetylene activation were identified as the key features of the Au(i)Cl sites that endow their superior catalytic performance in comparison to N-stabilised Au(iii) counterparts and gold nanoparticles. Finally, we show that the carrier (activated carbon versus nitrogen-doped carbon) does not affect the catalytic response, but determines the deactivation mechanism (gold particle aggregation and pore blockage, respectively), which opens up different options for the development of stable, high-performance hydrochlorination catalysts. © 2019 The Royal Society of Chemistry.
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    Hollow Au@TiO2 porous electrospun nanofibers for catalytic applications
    (Cambridge : RSC, 2020) Kumar, Labeesh; Singh, Sajan; Horechyy, Andriy; Formanek, Petr; Hübner, René; Albrecht, Victoria; Weißpflog, Janek; Schwarz, Simona; Puneet, Puhup; Nandan, Bhanu
    Catalytically active porous and hollow titania nanofibers encapsulating gold nanoparticles were fabricated using a combination of sol-gel chemistry and coaxial electrospinning technique. We report the fabrication of catalytically active porous and hollow titania nanofibers encapsulating gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) using a combination of sol-gel chemistry and coaxial electrospinning technique. The coaxial electrospinning involved the use of a mixture of poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) and titania sol as the shell forming component, whereas a mixture of poly(4-vinyl pyridine) (P4VP) and pre-synthesized AuNPs constituted the core forming component. The core-shell nanofibers were calcined stepwise up to 600 °C which resulted in decomposition and removal of the organic constituents of the nanofibers. This led to the formation of porous and hollow titania nanofibers, where the catalytic AuNPs were embedded in the inner wall of the titania shell. The catalytic activity of the prepared Au@TiO2 porous nanofibers was investigated using a model reaction of catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol and Congo red dye in the presence of NaBH4. The Au@TiO2 porous and hollow nanofibers exhibited excellent catalytic activity and recyclability, and the morphology of the nanofibers remained intact after repeated usage. The presented approach could be a promising route for immobilizing various nanosized catalysts in hollow titania supports for the design of stable catalytic systems where the added photocatalytic activity of titania could further be of significance. This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.