Issue 5, 2017

Rh nanoparticles supported on ultrathin carbon nanosheets for high-performance oxygen reduction reaction and catalytic hydrogenation

Abstract

We reported a facile and scalable salt-templated approach to produce monodisperse Rh nanoparticles (NPs) on ultrathin carbon nanosheets with the assistance of calcination under inert gas. More importantly, in spite of the essentially poor ORR activity of Rh/C, the acquired Rh/C hybrid nanosheets display a comparable ORR activity to the optimal commercial Pt/C catalyst, which may be due to the extra-small size of Rh NPs and the 2D defect-rich amorphous carbon nanosheets that can facilitate the charge transfer and reactive surface exposure. Moreover, Rh/C nanosheets present the optimal current density and best durability with the minimum decline during the entire test, so that ∼93% activity after 20 000 s is achieved, indicating a good lifetime for ORR. In contrast, commercial Pt/C and commercial Rh/C exhibited worse durability, so that ∼74% and ∼85% activities after 20 000 s are maintained. What's more, in the model system of reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP), the kinetic constant k for Rh/C nanosheets is 3.1 × 10−3, which is 4.5 times than that of the commercial Rh/C catalyst, revealing that our Rh/C hybrid nanosheets can be potentially applied in industrial catalytic hydrogenation. This work opens a novel and facile way for the rest of the precious metal NPs to be supported on ultrathin carbon nanosheets for heterogeneous catalysis.

Graphical abstract: Rh nanoparticles supported on ultrathin carbon nanosheets for high-performance oxygen reduction reaction and catalytic hydrogenation

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
19 Dec 2016
Accepted
18 Jan 2017
First published
19 Jan 2017

Nanoscale, 2017,9, 1834-1839

Rh nanoparticles supported on ultrathin carbon nanosheets for high-performance oxygen reduction reaction and catalytic hydrogenation

C. Lin, G. Wu, H. Li, Y. Geng, G. Xie, J. Yang, B. Liu and J. Jin, Nanoscale, 2017, 9, 1834 DOI: 10.1039/C6NR09739A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements