Homogeneous Integration of Polyoxometalates and Titania into Crumpled Layers
Abstract
The crumpling and buckling in nanosheets are anticipated to provide new characteristics that could not be observed in ideal flat layers. However, the rigid lattice structure of inorganic metal oxides limits their assembly into well-defined crumpled layers. Here, this study demonstrates that at the sub-nm scale, polyoxometalates (POMs) clusters having well-defined structures can intercede during the nucleation process of titania and co-assemble with nuclei to form uniform, large-sized crumpled binary 2D layers with a thickness of 2 nm. The obtained crumpled layers are then used as a support material to immobilize Pd nanoclusters with an average size of 2 nm. Pd-immobilized crumpled layers are employed as heterogeneous catalysts for the partial hydrogenation of acetylene. This structurally and compositionally unique heterogeneous catalyst manifests exceptional selectivity to cis-alkene with almost 100% yield as compared to commercially available titania which only exhibits 10% diphenylacetylene conversion and 42% selectivity in the given period of time.
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest
Open Research
Data Availability Statement
The data that support the findings of this study are available in the supplementary material of this article.