2. Academic Validation
  3. Single-atom Sn-Zn pairs in CuO catalyst promote dimethyldichlorosilane synthesis

Single-atom Sn-Zn pairs in CuO catalyst promote dimethyldichlorosilane synthesis

  • Natl Sci Rev. 2020 Mar;7(3):600-608. doi: 10.1093/nsr/nwz196.
Qi Shi 1 2,  Yongjun Ji 2 3,  Wenxin Chen 4,  Yongxia Zhu 2,  Jing Li 2,  Hezhi Liu 2,  Zhi Li 5,  Shubo Tian 5,  Ligen Wang 1,  Ziyi Zhong 6 7,  Limin Wang 1,  Jianmin Ma 8,  Yadong Li 5,  Fabing Su 2 3 9
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Gripm Advanced Materials Co., Ltd, Beijing 101407, China.
  • 2 State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Complex Systems, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
  • 3 Zhongke Langfang Institute of Process Engineering, Langfang 065001, China.
  • 4 Beijing Key Laboratory of Construction Tailorable Advanced Functional Materials and Green Applications, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China.
  • 5 Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
  • 6 College of Engineering, Guangdong Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (GTIIT), Shantou 515063, China.
  • 7 Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (IIT), Haifa 32000, Israel.
  • 8 School of Physics and Electronics, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China.
  • 9 Institute of Industrial Chemistry and Energy Technology, Shenyang University of Chemical Technology, Shenyang 110142, China.
PMID: 34692079 DOI: 10.1093/nsr/nwz196
Abstract

Single-atom catalysts are of great interest because they can maximize the atom-utilization efficiency and generate unique catalytic properties; however, much attention has been paid to single-site active components, rarely to catalyst promoters. Promoters can significantly affect the activity and selectivity of a catalyst, even at their low concentrations in catalysts. In this work, we designed and synthesized CuO catalysts with atomically dispersed co-promoters of Sn and Zn. When used as the catalyst in the Rochow reaction for the synthesis of dimethyldichlorosilane, this catalyst exhibited much-enhanced activity, selectivity and stability compared with the conventional CuO catalysts with promoters in the form of nanoparticles. Density functional theory calculations demonstrate that single-atomic Sn substitution in the CuO surface can enrich surface Cu vacancies and promote dispersion of Zn to its atomic levels. Sn and Zn single sites as the co-promoters cooperatively generate electronic interaction with the CuO support, which further facilitates the adsorption of the reactant molecules on the surface, thereby leading to the superior catalytic performance.

Keywords

CuO catalyst; Rochow reaction; catalytic performance; dimethyldichlorosilane synthesis; dual single-atom promoters.

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