Water‐Based Synthesis of Gold Single Atoms‐Embedded, Metal–Organic Frameworks‐Derived Nanoporous Carbon Nanoparticles with Enhanced Reduction Ability

Abstract

Single‐atom catalysts (SACs) have emerged to be a new research frontier in catalysis due to their distinctive physical and chemical properties, including better catalytic performance, stability, and recyclability. However, the widely used organic synthesis methods for SACs limit the ability to uniformly distribute single atoms’ water‐soluble precursors on the support of the catalysts. A water‐based synthesis of single gold (Au) atom catalyst is used in this work. Through this method, water‐soluble Au precursors are successfully turned into Au single atoms embedded in metal–organic framework‐derived nitrogen‐containing nanoporous carbon. The resulting catalyst is applied on the reduction of 4‐nitropenol. The catalytic performance of the reaction reaches 100% conversion in 30 min, while utilizing Au nanoparticles as active sites on the same support can only get 70% conversion under the same reaction conditions.

Continuous and ultrafast MOF synthesis using droplet microfluidic nanoarchitectonics

“…We have previously reported that ZIF-8, ZIF-90, and MIL-100 can be synthesized using water as a solvent in bulk solution. 31,34,35 We also reported a de novo approach for the production of biocatalysts via embedding enzymes into nanoporous materials and for simultaneous encapsulation of metal nanoparticles in the self-assembly of porous materials. 36–38 Herein, we demonstrate the synthesis of ZIF-8 and MIL-100 using a water-based droplet microfluidic flow system with precise control of temperature, time, and flow rates.…”