Development of Sinter-Resistant Nanoparticles Encapsulated by Zeolite Nanoshell as Bifunctional Catalyst

PI: Prof. Sri Sivakumar

Co-PI: Prof. Raj Ganesh S. Pala

Modulation of activity and selectivity of catalytic nanoparticles is correlated to the control of their shape, size and surface composition. However, a formidable problem associated with such nanocatalysts is sintering due to high temperature or reactants. An approach to prevent sintering of catalytic nanoparticle is to enclose them within a shell material, preferably possessing the shape selectivity. Towards this end, we propose a generic hydrothermal synthesis of sinter-resistant single metallic nanoparticle (e.g. Pt, Pd, Au, Co, Ni) and bimetallic nanoparticles (CoPt, CuLa) encapsulated by different zeolite shells (e.g. ZSM-5, MCM-22, MCM-41), which serve the dual role of stabilizing the nanoparticles against sintering and facilitating the selective catalysis. The synthesized zeolite encapsulated nanoparticles will be characterized using TEM, SEM-EDX, XRD, UV-Vis, and BET. The prepared catalyst will be tested in the various reactions such as, ring opening of methylcyclopentane, conversion of hydroxymethyl furfural (biomass conversion), conversion (biomass conversion) of p-xylene to terephthalic acid (AMOCO process).