Confining Gold Nanoparticles in Preformed Zeolites by Post-Synthetic Modification Enhances Stability and Catalytic Reactivity and Selectivity
Eunji Eom, Minseok Song, Jeong‐Chul Kim, Dong‐il Kwon, Daniel N. Rainer, Kinga Gołą̨bek, Sung Chan Nam, Ryong Ryoo, Michal Mazur, Changbum Jo
Abstract
chemisorption, and CO Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) studies. The Au NPs supported on commercial MFI maintain their uniform dispersity to a large extent after treatment at 700 °C that sinters Au clusters on mesoporous silicas or beta zeolites. Low-temperature CO oxidation and size-selective reactions highlight that most gold NPs are present inside the zeolite matrix with a diameter smaller than 2 nm. These findings illustrate how confinement favors small, uniquely stable, and monodisperse NPs, even for metals such as Au susceptible to cluster growth under conditions often required for catalytic use. Moreover, this strategy may be readily adapted to other zeolite frameworks that can be functionalized by thiol groups.