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Silica‐Decoration Boosts Ni Catalysis for (De)hydrogenation: Step‐Abundant Nanostructures Stabilized by Silica
Author(s) -
Ham Hyungwon,
Simanullang Wiyanti F.,
Kanda Yasuharu,
Wen Yu,
Hashimoto Ayako,
Abe Hideki,
Shimizu Kenichi,
Furukawa Shinya
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
chemcatchem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.497
H-Index - 106
eISSN - 1867-3899
pISSN - 1867-3880
DOI - 10.1002/cctc.202001946
Subject(s) - methylcyclohexane , dehydrogenation , catalysis , density functional theory , nanoparticle , chemical engineering , toluene , materials science , nanostructure , chemistry , photochemistry , nanotechnology , computational chemistry , organic chemistry , engineering
Ni nanoparticles supported on SiO 2 were decorated with additional SiO x species by impregnation with tetraethoxysilane (Si(OEt) 4 ). The combination of electron microscopy, infrared analysis, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed that the SiO x ‐decoration made the surface morphology of Ni nanoparticles highly rough and step‐abundant due to the significant stabilization of low‐coordination‐number sites. The SiO x ‐decorated Ni exhibited 50 times higher catalytic activity for the dehydrogenation of methylcyclohexane to toluene than pure Ni. DFT calculations revealed that the Ni(211) step sites had a more favorable C−H activation than Ni(111) terrace sites and well reproduced the experimental apparent activation energies.