Direct observation of the formation and stabilization of metallic nanoparticles on carbon supports

Zhennan Huang; Yonggang Yao; Zhenqian Pang; Yifei Yuan; Tangyuan Li; Kun He; Xiaobing Hu; Jian Cheng; Wentao Yao; Yuzi Liu; Anmin Nie; Soroosh Sharifi-Asl; Meng Cheng; Boao Song; Khalil Amine; Jun Lu; Teng Li; Liangbing Hu; Reza Shahbazian-Yassar

doi:10.1038/s41467-020-20084-5

Direct observation of the formation and stabilization of metallic nanoparticles on carbon supports

Nat Commun. 2020 Dec 11;11(1):6373. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-20084-5.

Authors

Zhennan Huang¹, Yonggang Yao², Zhenqian Pang³, Yifei Yuan^{1

4}, Tangyuan Li², Kun He⁵, Xiaobing Hu⁵, Jian Cheng³, Wentao Yao⁶, Yuzi Liu⁷, Anmin Nie⁸, Soroosh Sharifi-Asl¹, Meng Cheng¹, Boao Song¹, Khalil Amine⁴, Jun Lu⁴, Teng Li⁹, Liangbing Hu¹⁰, Reza Shahbazian-Yassar¹¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60607, USA.
² Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA.
³ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA.
⁴ Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL, 60439, USA.
⁵ Northwestern University Atomic and Nanoscale Characterization Experimental (NUANCE) Center, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA.
⁶ Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, 49931, USA.
⁷ Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL, 60439, USA.
⁸ Center for High Pressure Science, State Key Lab of Metastable Materials Science and Technology, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao, 066004, China.
⁹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA. lit@umd.edu.
¹⁰ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA. binghu@umd.edu.
¹¹ Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60607, USA. rsyassar@uic.edu.

Abstract

Direct formation of ultra-small nanoparticles on carbon supports by rapid high temperature synthesis method offers new opportunities for scalable nanomanufacturing and the synthesis of stable multi-elemental nanoparticles. However, the underlying mechanisms affecting the dispersion and stability of nanoparticles on the supports during high temperature processing remain enigmatic. In this work, we report the observation of metallic nanoparticles formation and stabilization on carbon supports through in situ Joule heating method. We find that the formation of metallic nanoparticles is associated with the simultaneous phase transition of amorphous carbon to a highly defective turbostratic graphite (T-graphite). Molecular dynamic (MD) simulations suggest that the defective T-graphite provide numerous nucleation sites for the nanoparticles to form. Furthermore, the nanoparticles partially intercalate and take root on edge planes, leading to high binding energy on support. This interaction between nanoparticles and T-graphite substrate strengthens the anchoring and provides excellent thermal stability to the nanoparticles. These findings provide mechanistic understanding of rapid high temperature synthesis of metal nanoparticles on carbon supports and the origin of their stability.