(561c) Two-Dimensional Nanomaterials As Supports for Heterogenous Catalysis

Two-Dimensional (2D) nanomaterials have garnered remarkable interest recently due to their promising potential in versatile applications such as energy storage devices including lithium ion batteries (LIB) and capacitors. However, catalytic properties of 2D nanomaterials, especially for thermo-catalytic reactions, are rarely studied. The 2D structures may facilitate the characterizations of the supported nanoparticles and help determine the chemistry of active sites.

Water gas shift (WGS) reaction is widely used in industry to produce clean hydrogen for plenty of processes such as ammonia synthesis, methanol synthesis and hydrocarbon processing. Moreover, WGS is a useful probe reaction that can shed light on fundamental catalytic processes over considerable catalyst systems. In this presentation, we studied the effects of 2D nanomaterials as supports of noble metals for WGS reaction. Kinetics such as orders of reactants cast light on absorption and coverage of the reactants. Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) as well as X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) were employed to identify the nature of active sites.