Strong electrostatic adsorption of Pt onto SiO partially overcoated AlO-Towards single atom catalysts.

It is frequently desired to synthesize supported metal catalysts that consist of very small clusters or single atoms. In this work, we combine strong electrostatic adsorption (SEA) of HPtCl and engineered oxide supports to ultimately produce very small Pt clusters, including a large fraction of single Pt atoms. The supports are synthesized by depositing controlled amounts of SiO onto AlO (SiO@AlO) that has been previously grafted with bulky organic templates.

Direct Visualization of Independent Ta Centers Supported on Two-Dimensional TiO Nanosheets.

Highly dispersed, supported oxides are ubiquitous solid catalysts but can be challenging to characterize with atomic precision. Here, it is shown that crystalline anatase TiO nanosheets (∼5 nm thick) are ideal supports for imaging highly dispersed active sites. Ta cations were deposited by several routes, and high-resolution high angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy was used to determine the location of Ta with respect to the TiO lattice and quantify Ta-Ta distances.

Reusable photocatalytic titanium dioxide-cellulose nanofiber films.

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is a well-studied photocatalyst that is known to break down organic molecules upon ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. Cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) act as an attractive matrix material for the suspension of photocatalytic particles due to their desirable mechanical and optical properties. In this work, TiO2-CNF composite films were fabricated and evaluated for photocatalytic activity under UV light and their potential to remove organic compounds from water.