Encapsulation of Cu2O Micro/Nanoparticles into Activated Carbon Felt as a Catalyst in Organic Reactions

Cuprous oxide (Cu2O) nanoparticles as organic catalysts have been widely applied due to their low cost, high efficiency, and nontoxicity. However, severe agglomeration of nanoparticles would cause side effects on the catalytic performance. Herein, Cu2O micro/nanoparticles were encapsulated into activated carbon felt (ACF) (Cu2O@ACF) to solve nanoparticle agglomeration, and then, three products (alkenylboronates, diaryl sulfides, and 1,2,3-triazoles) were successfully prepared using Cu(2)OgACF as the catalyst. In particular, Cu(2)OgACF also showed excellent recycling performance for catalytic reactions. After 10 cycles, the yield of alkenylboronates remained high (up to 63%). ACF as a carrier can suppress the aggregation of CCu2O micro/nanoparticles during the process of catalytic reaction, contributing to the improvement of high yield even after ten cycles. This work proposes a simple method to improve the catalytic performance of Cu2O micro/nanoparticles by encapsulating micro/nanoparticles into ACF.

Automated summary

This study successfully solved the nanoparticle agglomeration issue by encapsulating Cu2O micro/nanoparticles into ACF, which showed excellent recycling performance during catalytic reactions with high product yield even after multiple cycles.