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Ruthenium‐Nanoparticle‐Loaded Hollow Carbon Spheres as Nanoreactors for Hydrogenation of Levulinic Acid: Explicitly Recognizing the Void‐Confinement Effect
Author(s) -
Yu Zhihao,
Ji Na,
Xiong Jian,
Li Xiaoyun,
Zhang Rui,
Zhang Lidong,
Lu Xuebin
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.202107314
Subject(s) - nanoreactor , nanoparticle , materials science , catalysis , nanotechnology , chemical engineering , chemistry , organic chemistry , engineering
As a typical class of man‐made nanoreactors, metal‐loaded hollow carbon nanostructures (MHC nanoreactors) exhibit competitive potentials in the heterogeneous catalysis due to their tailorable microenvironment effects, in which the void‐confinement effect is one of the most fundamental functions in boosting the catalytic performance. Herein this paper, Ru‐loaded hollow carbon spheres are employed as nanoreactors with a crucial biomass hydrogenation process, levulinic acid (LA) hydrogenation into γ‐valerolactone, as the probe reaction to further recognize the forming mechanism of this pivotal effect. We demonstrated that the void‐confinement effect of the selected MHC nanoreactors is essentially driven by an integrating action of electronic metal‐support interaction, reactant enrichment and diffusion, which are mainly ascribed to peculiar properties of hollow nanoreactors both in electronic and structural aspects, respectively. This work offers a distinct case for interpreting the catalytic behaviour of MHC nanoreactors, which could potentially promise broader insights into the microenvironment engineering strategies of hollow nanostructures.