Low-Temperature Synthesis of Single Palladium Atoms Supported on Defective Hexagonal Boron Nitride Nanosheet for Chemoselective Hydrogenation of Cinnamaldehyde
Zhijun Li, Wei Wei, Honghong Li, Shaohan Li, Leipeng Leng, Mingyang Zhang, J. Hugh Horton, Dingsheng Wang, Weiwei Sun, Chunmu Guo, Wei Wu, Jun Wang
Abstract
Metal-support interactions are of great importance in determining the support-activity in heterogeneous catalysis. Here we report a low-temperature synthetic strategy to create atomically dispersed palladium atoms anchored on defective hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) nanosheet. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations suggest that the nitrogen-containing B vacancy can provide stable anchoring sites for palladium atoms. The presence of single palladium atoms was confirmed by spherical aberration correction electron microscopy and extended X-ray absorption fine structure measurement. This catalyst showed exceptional efficiency in chemoselective hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde, along with excellent recyclability, sintering-resistant ability, and scalability. We anticipate this synthetic approach for the synthesis of high-quality SACs based on h-BN support is amenable to large-scale production of bench-stable catalysts with maximum atom efficiency for industrial applications.