Engineering high-performance Pd core-MgO porous shell nanocatalysts via heterogeneous gas-phase synthesis.

We report on the design and synthesis of high performance catalytic nanoparticles with a robust geometry via magnetron-sputter inert-gas condensation. Sputtering of Pd and Mg from two independent neighbouring targets enabled heterogeneous condensation and growth of nanoparticles with controlled Pd core-MgO porous shell structure. The thickness of the shell and the number of cores within each nanoparticle could be tailored by adjusting the respective sputtering powers. The nanoparticles were directly deposited on glassy carbon electrodes, and their catalytic activity towards methanol oxidation was examined by cyclic voltammetry. The measurements indicated that the catalytic activity was superior to conventional bare Pd nanoparticles. As confirmed by electron microscopy imaging and supported by density-functional theory (DFT) calculations, we attribute the improved catalytic performance primarily to inhibition of Pd core sintering during the catalytic process by the metal-oxide shell.

The synergistic effect of Rh-Ni catalysts on the highly-efficient dehydrogenation of aqueous hydrazine borane for chemical hydrogen storage.

An Rh(4)Ni alloy nanocatalyst exhibits highly-efficient performance in dehydrogenation of aqueous hydrazine borane. The hydrogen selectivity reaches almost 100%. More interestingly, catalyzed by the Rh(4)Ni nanocatalyst, the dehydrogenation of aqueous hydrazine borane is not simply divided into two steps.

ZIF-8 immobilized nickel nanoparticles: highly effective catalysts for hydrogen generation from hydrolysis of ammonia borane.

Highly dispersed Ni nanoparticles have been successfully immobilized by the zeolitic metal-organic framework ZIF-8 via sequential deposition-reduction methods, which show high catalytic activity and long durability for hydrogen generation from hydrolysis of aqueous ammonia borane (NH(3)BH(3)) at room temperature.

Noble-metal-free bimetallic nanoparticle-catalyzed selective hydrogen generation from hydrous hydrazine for chemical hydrogen storage.

Noble-metal-free nickel-iron alloy nanoparticles exhibit excellent catalytic performance for the complete decomposition of hydrous hydrazine, for which the NiFe nanocatalyst, with equimolar compositions of Ni and Fe, shows 100% hydrogen selectivity in basic solution (0.5 M NaOH) at 343 K. The development of low-cost and high-performance catalysts may encourage the effective application of hydrous hydrazine as a promising hydrogen storage material.

Multiphoton ionization and oxidation processes of Mg-ammonia clusters.

Multiphoton ionization and oxidation processes of ammoniated magnesium clusters are investigated by the multiphoton ionization method with an intense femtosecond laser. In the photoionization of mass-selected Mg+ (NH3)n, evaporation dominates at lower laser intensity, while the oxidation reaction to produce H-atom elimination products, MgNH2+ (NH3)m, becomes predominant at higher intensity. In addition to these fragment ions, doubly-charged ions are observed for n > or = 2 at the laser intensity higher than 10(12) W cm(-2). We also examined the femtosecond pump probe experiments for Mg+ (NH3)4 by monitoring these reaction products. The lifetime of the first excited state is determined as 0.8 ps from the temporal profile of MgNH2+ (NH3)m. On the other hand, the time profile of the evaporation products exhibits a bleaching of the absorption, which gives the recovery time of the initial state as 1.2 ps. Multiphoton excitation of Mg(NH3)n with the femtosecond laser at 800 nm gives doubly-charged ions with n > 3 in addition to singly-charged cluster ions and H-atom elimination products such as MgNH2+ (NH3)m. The absence of small doubly-charged ions is ascribed to a charge reduction reaction followed by Coulomb explosion. On the basis of these results, the dynamics of the solvation and oxidation reaction processes of Mg(NH3)n is discussed.