Design of core-shell hybrid nanoparticles and their application in catalysis

In the past decades the importance of nanotechnology in the industry has grown exponentially. Nanoparticles with all sorts of properties have been developed for a multitude of applications, and recently it was realized that combining materials for hybrid nanotechnology offers further technological progress. In the last 30 years another branch of chemistry has become economically relevant, palladium catalyzed reactions for organic coupling. Various global players in chemistry that also have branches in Belgium are using Pd-catalyzed coupling reactions.Despite the large scale application there is much room for improvement from the side of the Pd-catalysts. The palladium can often not be recuperated, with a price of upwards of €22.000 per kilo. This lowers the purity of the products and raises costs. Suzuki reactions are often run at 80°C and more and reaction times of 10 hours or more. The energy cost of these conditions is considerable. Developing an alternative, more efficient and faster technology for such reactions is highly sought after both from an industrial and an academic point of view.De main goal of this project is the improvement of the efficiency of Pd-catalyzed couplings by realizing a hybrid nanoparticle catalyst based on a core of iron oxide (magnetite) and gold. The main advantages of such a catalyst would be the lower energy cost (I), the more efficient removal (2) and recycling (III) as well as the ability for rapid acceleration and deceleration of the reaction speed(IV). To catalyze the reaction more energy-efficiently we can plasmonically heat the gold shell using light, also allowing us to control the reaction speed by controlling the intensity of the incident light. Our calculations have shown that the energy cost of our catalyst could be between 80 and 90% lower than that of current technology. The purpose of the magnetic core of the catalyst will be the improvement of the recuperation and recycling of the catalyst by use of an electric field. Iron oxide can also be heated magnetically by AC magnetic fields as an additional heat source.By developing and combining materials with specific properties we are convinced we can produce a hybrid nanoparticle catalyst that increases the efficiency and cost effectiveness of Pd-catalyzed reactions.In the field of research on the trending topic of plasmon resonances and their applications, our lab is a pioneer. The theoretical and practical knowledge regarding this phenomenon is present to finalize the optical and thermal part of the research. Collaborations with a.o. the Centrum for Surface Chemistry and Catalysis, the Laboratory for Polymer Synthesis and the department Molecular Design and Synthesis at the KULeuven assure access to the infrastructure, technology and experimental knowledge necessary for characterizing the nanoparticles as well as reaction products.

Jaar van publicatie:2019

Toegankelijkheid:Closed