Supported multimetallic nanoparticles containing mixed oxidation states as catalysts

The chemicals market requires increased product specificity (lower levels of waste products) from its processes as well as the ability to process lower purity feedstocks. These aims of increased feedstock flexibility coupled with increased product specificity presents an enormous technical challenge. This collaborative project between the CCI and JM allows access to a unique combination of skills and equipment that enables this challenge to be addressed since together the CCI and JM have extensive experience to make novel and controlled gold containing supported bi-metallic nanoparticle structured materials with controlled morphology (core-shell / homogeneous alloys). These synergistic effects often give materials displaying high catalyst reactivity. This project will extend this principle to develop materials in which one metal is in a high oxidation state and the other in a low oxidation rather than being metallic. In particular, the aim of this project is to prepare supported metal nanoparticles in which gold is in a low oxidation state as a chloride or stabilised with other hard and soft ligands, and the second metal (copper, nickel) are in high oxidation states and to evaluate their activity when supported on inorganic oxides or activated carbon. The catalysts will be tested for selective oxidation, H2O2 synthesis and acetylene hydrochlorination to generate insights into the structure-activity relationships as well as methodologies to stabilise these and similar novel materials.

The aim is to develop and utilise new synthesis procedures to allow the controlled synthesis of new nanoparticle structures such as alloy (metallic) cores with shells consisting of metals in high oxidation states, or low oxidation metallic shells around oxidic cores and even developing layered nanomaterials with concentric multiple shells containing oxide and metallic layers. These novel nanostructures will then be characterised and evaluated as catalysts and provide the basis of a new class of catalysts.