Journal
CHEMICAL SCIENCE
Volume 8, Issue 1, Pages 278-283Publisher
ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY
DOI: 10.1039/c6sc02298g
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Funding
- Outstanding Postdoctoral Award (DMTO Project) from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Science
- China Postdoctoral Science Foundation [2014M551131]
- Natural Science Foundation of China [21425312, 21321002]
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An increasing number of studies have demonstrated that confinement within carbon nanotubes (CNTs) provides an effective approach for the modulation of catalysis. It was generally predicted that confinement became stronger with a decreasing diameter of CNTs. However, our present study here overturns the previous expectation: the influence on catalysis is not monotonic. Instead, it exhibits a volcano relationship with CNT diameter. Taking Pt catalyzing O-2 conversion and Re catalyzing N-2 conversion as probes using density functional theory, we show that only within tubes with an i. d. of similar to 1 nm can the activity of metal clusters be enhanced to its maximum. Furthermore, confinement only enhances the catalytic activity of metals with strong intrinsic binding with reactants, whereas it is suppressed for those with weak binding. These findings shed further light on the fundamental effects of confinement on catalysis, and could guide more rational design of confined catalysts.
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