Pacific Rim Symposium on Surfaces, Coatings and Interfaces (PacSurf 2016)
    Nanomaterials Monday Sessions
       Session NM-MoE

Paper NM-MoE7
Metal Nanoparticles Intercalated in Mesoporous Silica as Robust Catalyst Platforms

Monday, December 12, 2016, 7:40 pm, Room Hau

Session: Nanocatalysis
Presenter: Ryan Richards, Colorado School of Mines, USA
Authors: R. Richards, Colorado School of Mines, USA
S. Gage, Colorado School of Mines, USA
Y. Ji, Colorado School of Mines, USA
M. Menart, Colorado School of Mines, USA
M. Davidson, Colorado School of Mines, USA
S. Pylypenko, Colorado School of Mines, USA
B. Trewyn, Colorado School of Mines, USA
Correspondent: Click to Email
Metal nanoparticles have been in the research spotlight for decades for their activity as efficient and highly selective heterogeneous catalysts. Similar to many nanoscale metal particles, the catalytic activity of for example Pd and Au NPs also depends on particle size. At high temperatures however the particles often undergo aggregation and sintering resulting in an increase in particle size and a corresponding loss in activity. In order impart robustness to Pd and Au NPs catalysts, supporting NPs on another material is a common approach. Amongst support materials, silica is attractive for its relative chemical inertness and thermal stability. Here, we present a sol-gel process by which we intercalated Pd and Au into the wall framework of mesoporous silica yielding a catalytic material termed PdMS or GMS here (Pd or Au in the walls of mesoporous silica). The PdMS material has been shown to be stable (maintaining both porous silica framework and Pd nanoparticle size) at temperatures as high as 650 °C making them attractive for high temperature processes.