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Unveiling Single Atom Nucleation for Isolating Ultrafine fcc Ru Nanoclusters with Outstanding Dehydrogenation Activity
Author(s) -
Wang Ye,
Li JiaLuo,
Shi WenXiong,
Zhang ZhiMing,
Guo Song,
Si Rui,
Liu Meng,
Zhou HongCai,
Yao Shuang,
An ChangHua,
Lu TongBu
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
advanced energy materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.08
H-Index - 220
eISSN - 1614-6840
pISSN - 1614-6832
DOI - 10.1002/aenm.202002138
Subject(s) - nanoclusters , nucleation , materials science , ruthenium , dehydrogenation , ammonia borane , chemical engineering , nanoparticle , catalysis , atom (system on chip) , nanotechnology , metal , chemical physics , crystallography , metallurgy , organic chemistry , chemistry , computer science , engineering , embedded system
Ultrafine face‐centered cubic (fcc) ruthenium nanoclusters (NCs) are of great interest due to their super high catalytic activity. However, it is extremely difficult to prepare ≈1 nm fcc ruthenium NCs with high energy atoms due to their easy aggregation. Herein, the nucleation process of ruthenium centers by confined pyrolysis of a multivariate metal–organic framework to isolate ultrafine fcc NCs (from single atom to 1.33 nm) via in situ formed stabilizers is unveiled. Systematic investigations demonstrate that preferential nucleation of Ru single atoms to fcc clusters in the initial nucleation represents a key step and makes it possible to separate ultrafine fcc Ru NCs with in situ formed N‐doped porous carbon. A record high turnover frequency of 1300.53 min −1 for methanolysis of ammonia borane is achieved by 1.33 nm NCs. This work suggests a new strategy to prepare ultrafine metal NCs by instantly capturing structure‐specific crystal nuclei with in situ formed stabilizers.