Issue 50, 2015 - Breakthrough in nano-graphene iron catalyst research

The research team led by Deng Dehui, associate researcher of the Dalian Institute of Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Academician Bao Xinhe, on the basis of long-term research on two-dimensional catalytic materials and nano-confinement catalysis, successfully confined the FeN4 structure to the nanographene skeleton, so that it has excellent catalytic activity and stability, and can catalyze the oxidation of benzene to phenol at room temperature or even 0 °C with high selectivity
.
The results of this study provide new ideas and references for the design of non-precious metal catalysts for efficient selection and oxidation at low temperatures, and are also beneficial
to the upgrading and industrial production of graphene preparation technology.

After more than 5 years of exploration, the research team controlled the ball milling conditions by grinding phthalocyanine iron molecules and graphene nanosheets with high-energy balls, and cleverly used N atoms to form strong covalent bonds with C atoms of graphene, so that N atoms act as an "anchor" to stabilize the coordination of unsaturated iron centers
.

The research team also cooperated with Southeast University, the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Canada and other parties to achieve a breakthrough in the research of nanographene-confined single-atom iron catalysts, and observed the atomic structure
of FeN4 in the graphene skeleton for the first time.
Further theoretical calculations show that the formed FeN4 structure can be effectively stabilized in the graphene backbone, and can efficiently decompose hydrogen peroxide, which in turn can catalyze the oxidation of benzene to phenol at room temperature or even 0 °C
.
(BUILT)