Matteo Monai

Fundamentals and Catalytic Applications of CeO2-Based Materials

Cerium dioxide (CeO2, ceria) is becoming an ubiquitous constituent in catalytic systems for a variety of applications. 2016 sees the 40(th) anniversary since ceria was first employed by Ford Motor Company as an oxygen storage component in car converters, to become in the years since its inception an irreplaceable component in three-way catalysts (TWCs). Apart from this well-established use, ceria is looming as a catalyst component for a wide range of catalytic applications. For some of these, such as fuel cells, CeO2-based materials have almost reached the market stage, while for some other catalytic reactions, such as reforming processes, photocatalysis, water-gas shift reaction, thermochemical water splitting, and organic reactions, ceria is emerging as a unique material, holding great promise for future market breakthroughs. While much knowledge about the fundamental characteristics of CeO2-based materials has already been acquired, new characterization techniques and powerful theoretical methods are deepening our understanding of these materials, helping us to predict their behavior and application potential. This review has a wide view on all those aspects related to ceria which promise to produce an important impact on our life, encompassing fundamental knowledge of CeO2 and its properties, characterization toolbox, emerging features, theoretical studies, and all the catalytic applications, organized by their degree of establishment on the market.

Methane Catalytic Combustion over Hierarchical Pd@CeO2/Si‐Al2O3: Effect of the Presence of Water

The influence of water vapor on methane catalytic combustion was studied over a Pd@CeO2/Si‐Al2O3 catalyst, carefully designed to maximize Pd‐CeO2 interaction and prevent metal sintering and compared to a conventional impregnated catalyst with identical chemical composition. Although the nanostructured Pd@CeO2/Si‐Al2O3 catalyst is thermally stable, the addition of water to the reaction feed leads to a transient deactivation at low temperatures, consistent with the well documented competitive adsorption. In addition to this, the hierarchically structured catalyst exhibits an additional severe deactivation after methane oxidation in the presence of water vapor at 600 °C that can be reversed only by heating the catalyst above 700 °C. The presence of water in the reaction feed deactivates the conventional impregnated catalyst less severely and the activity largely returns upon water removal. Catalytic FTIR and CO‐chemisorption data indicate that this severe deactivation process in the hierarchical catalyst is due to the formation of stable OH groups on the surface of the ceria nanoparticles. These hydroxyl groups are suggested to significantly inhibit the oxygen spillover from the CeO2 nanoparticles to Pd, preventing its efficient re‐oxidation, as observed by operando X‐ray absorption near edge spectroscopy (XANES) experiments. At the same time, their presence can contribute to limit the gas phase accessibility of Pd, as indicated by the decrease of CO chemisorption capability. The presence of hydroxyls plays a minor role on the deactivation of the conventional catalyst at 600 °C.

Unraveling the surface state and composition of highly selective nanocrystalline Ni–Cu alloy catalysts for hydrodeoxygenation of HMF

The selective hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) to 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF) is an important step in cellulosic biomass upgrading to biofuels, where bimetallic oxophilic catalysts have shown promising performance. Well controlled bimetallic NiCu and NiCu3 nanocrystals supported on carbon are shown to give high yields and selectivities to DMF. To shed light on the active phase, near-ambient-pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (NAP-XPS) was used to characterize the surface composition of these highly selective base-metal catalysts under reducing conditions relevant to the HDO reaction. Reactions were performed in a continuous flow reactor under reasonable conditions of 33 bar and 180 °C. The Ni alloys were significantly more selective for DMF compared to monometallic Ni or Cu catalysts. With a well-controlled surface composition, the nanocrystal NiCu3/C catalyst exhibited a maximum DMF yield of 98.7%. NAP-XPS characterization showed that the Ni–Cu nanocrystals were completely reduced below 250 °C in H2; this, together with bulk thermodynamic calculations, implies that the catalysts were completely reduced under the reaction conditions. NAP-XPS also indicated that the NiCu3 nanocrystal structure consisted of a Cu-rich core and a 1 : 1 molar Ni : Cu shell.

The water gas shift reaction over Pt–CeO2 nanoparticles confined within mesoporous SBA-16

Novel nanocomposite catalysts for the single step Water Gas Shift Reaction (WGSR) were prepared by deposition–precipitation and impregnation of Pt–CeO2 nanophases onto an ordered mesoporous silica support featuring a cubic arrangement of mesopores (SBA-16 type). The highly interconnected porosity of the SBA-16 developed in three dimensions (3D) provides a scaffold which is easily accessible to reactants and products by diffusion. The textural and morphological properties of the final catalyst were affected by the procedure utilized for dispersion of the nanophases onto SBA-16. The catalysts prepared by deposition–precipitation present highly dispersed nanocrystalline CeO2 on the surface of SBA-16 and retain a high surface area, high thermal stability and high Pt accessibility. The catalysts prepared by impregnation show improved Pt–CeO2 interaction but a more significant decrease of surface area compared to pure SBA-16, due to the confinement of the CeO2 crystallites within the mesoporous matrix. As a result, the catalysts prepared by deposition–precipitation are effective for the WGSR under working conditions in the high temperature range (around 300–350 °C), whereas the catalysts prepared by impregnation are suitable for the process operating at low temperature. Our results point out that these catalyst preparation procedures can be used to optimise the performance of heterogenous catalysts, by controlling the CeO2 crystallite size and optimizing the Pt–CeO2 contact by embedding. Improved thermal and chemical stabilities were achieved using a mesoporous scaffold.

A New Porous Hybrid Material Derived From Silica Fume and Alginate for Sustainable Pollutants Reduction

In this work a new mesoporous adsorbent material obtained from a natural, high abundant raw material and a high volume industrial by-product is presented. The material is consolidated by the gelling properties of alginate and by decomposition of sodium-bicarbonate controlled porosity at low temperatures (70–80°C) at different scale lengths. The structural, thermal, and morphological characterization shows that the material is a mesoporous organic-inorganic hybrid. The material is tested as adsorbent, showing high performances. Methylene blue, used as model pollutant, can be adsorbed and removed from aqueous solutions even at a high concentration with efficiency up to 94%. By coating the material with a 100 nm thin film of titania, good photodegradation performance (more than 20%) can be imparted. Based on embodied energy and carbon footprint of its primary production, the sustainability of the new obtained material is evaluated and quantified in respect to activated carbon as well. It is shown that the new proposed material has an embodied energy lower than one order of magnitude in respect to the one of activated carbon, which represents the gold standards. The versatility of the new material is also demonstrated in terms of its design and manufacturing possibilities In addition, this material can be printed in 3D. Finally, preliminary results about its ability to capture diesel exhaust particulate matter are reported. The sample exposed to diesel contains a large amount of carbon in its surface. At the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that hybrid porous materials are proposed as a new class of sustainable materials, produced to reduce pollutants in the wastewaters and in the atmosphere.

Enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen generation using carbazole-based sensitizers

Phenothiazine-, phenoxazine- and carbazole-based dyes have been synthesized and used as photosensitizers in Pt/TiO2 films for photocatalytic hydrogen generation. Compared to commonly used phenothiazine dyes, planar and sulphur-free carbazole derivatives showed different molecular and supramolecular features which in turn yielded greatly enhanced (one order of magnitude) H2 production performances.

Towards Sustainable H2 Production: Rational Design of Hydrophobic Triphenylamine-based Dyes for Sensitized Ethanol Photoreforming

Donor-acceptor dyes are a well-established class of photosensitizers, used to enhance visible-light harvesting in solar cells and in direct photocatalytic reactions, such as H2 production by photoreforming of sacrificial electron donors (SEDs). Amines-typically triethanolamine (TEOA)-are commonly employed as SEDs in such reactions. Dye-sensitized photoreforming of more sustainable, biomass-derived alcohols, on the other hand, was only recently reported by using methanol as the electron donor. In this work, several rationally designed donor-acceptor dyes were used as sensitizers in H2 photocatalytic production, comparing the efficiency of TEOA and EtOH as SEDs. In particular, the effect of hydrophobic chains in the spacer and/or the donor unit of the dyes was systematically studied. The H2 production rates were higher when TEOA was used as SED, whereas the activity trends depended on the SED used. The best performance was obtained with TEOA by using a sensitizer with just one bulky hydrophobic moiety, propylenedioxythiophene, placed on the spacer unit. In the case of EtOH, the best-performing sensitizers were the ones featuring a thiazolo[5,4-d]thiazole internal unit, needed for enhancing light harvesting, and carrying alkyl chains on both the donor part and the spacer unit. The results are discussed in terms of reaction mechanism, interaction with the SED, and structural/electrochemical properties of the sensitizers.