Issue 9, 2016

Single-atom dispersed Co–N–C catalyst: structure identification and performance for hydrogenative coupling of nitroarenes

Abstract

Co–N–C catalysts are promising candidates for substituting platinum in electrocatalysis and organic transformations. The heterogeneity of the Co species resulting from high-temperature pyrolysis, however, encumbers the structural identification of active sites. Herein, we report a self-supporting Co–N–C catalyst wherein cobalt is dispersed exclusively as single atoms. By using sub-Ångström-resolution HAADF-STEM in combination with XAFS and DFT calculation, the exact structure of the Co–N–C is identified to be CoN4C8-1-2O2, where the Co center atom is coordinated with four pyridinic N atoms in the graphitic layer, while two oxygen molecules are weakly adsorbed on Co atoms in perpendicular to the Co–N4 plane. This single-atom dispersed Co–N–C catalyst presents excellent performance for the chemoselective hydrogenation of nitroarenes to produce azo compounds under mild reaction conditions.

Graphical abstract: Single-atom dispersed Co–N–C catalyst: structure identification and performance for hydrogenative coupling of nitroarenes

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
13 May 2016
Accepted
11 Jun 2016
First published
13 Jun 2016
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2016,7, 5758-5764

Single-atom dispersed Co–N–C catalyst: structure identification and performance for hydrogenative coupling of nitroarenes

W. Liu, L. Zhang, W. Yan, X. Liu, X. Yang, S. Miao, W. Wang, A. Wang and T. Zhang, Chem. Sci., 2016, 7, 5758 DOI: 10.1039/C6SC02105K

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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