Nanocatalysts are characterised by the unique nanoscale properties that originate from their highly reduced dimensions. Extensive studies over the past few decades have demonstrated that the size and shape of a catalyst particle on the nanometre scale profoundly affect its reaction performance. In particular, controlling the catalyst particle morphology allows a selective exposure of a larger fraction of the reactive facets on which the active sites can be enriched and tuned. This desirable surface coordination of catalytically active atoms or domains substantially improves catalytic activity, selectivity, and stability. This phenomenon is called morphology-dependent nanocatalysts: catalyst particles with anisotropic morphologies on the nanometre scale greatly affect the reaction performance by selectively exposing the desired facets. In this review, we highlight important progress in morphology-dependent nanocatalysts based on the use of rod-shaped metal oxides with characteristic redox and acid-base features. The correlation between the catalytic properties and the exposed facets verifies the chemical nature of the morphology effect. Moreover, we provide an overview of the interactions between the rod-shaped oxides and the metal nanoparticles in metal-oxide catalyst systems, involving crystal-facet-selective deposition of metal particles onto different crystal facets in the oxide supports. A fundamental understanding of active sites in morphologically tuneable oxides enclosed by the desired reactive facets is expected to direct the development of highly efficient nanocatalysts.

Morphology-dependent nanocatalysts: Rod-shaped oxides

Copper–indium catalysts have recently shown promising performance for the selective electrochemical reduction of CO2 to CO. In this work, we prepared Cu–In nanoalloys by the in situ reduction of CuInO2 and In2O3-supported Cu nanoparticles and found that the structure of these nanoalloys evolves substantially over several electrocatalytic cycles, in parallel with an increase in the activity and selectivity for CO evolution. By combining electrochemical measurements with ex situ characterization techniques, such as XRD, STEM, elemental mapping, and XPS, we show that this behavior is caused by the segregation of copper and indium in these materials, resulting in the formation of a heterogeneous nanostructure of Cu-rich cores embedded within an In(OH)3 shell-like matrix. The evolved catalysts show high electrocatalytic performance at moderate overpotential (i.e., jCO > 1.5 mA cm–2 at −0.6 V vs RHE). We found that the removal of In(OH)3 from these heterogeneous nanostructures decreases the performance of the e...

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acscatal.6b02067

Enhanced Reduction of CO2 to CO over Cu–In Electrocatalysts: Catalyst Evolution Is the Key

Synthesis, characterization, shape-preserved transformation, and optical properties of La(OH)3, La2O2CO3, and La2O3 nanorods

Manganese ferrite (MnFe2O4) nanostructures for cancer theranostics

Sm2O3 nanoparticles green synthesis via Callistemon viminalis' extract

Lanthanide hydroxide nanorods and their thermal decomposition to lanthanide oxide nanorods

Uniform single-crystalline indium hydroxide microcubes can be successfully synthesized in large quantities via a convenient hydrothermal route using hydrated indium nitrate and sodium borohydride as reagents under mild conditions. The morphology and size of indium hydroxide microcubes can be controlled by varying the synthetic parameters such as hydrothermal time, reaction temperature, and surfactant. Single-crystalline indium oxide microcubes also can be successfully prepared by a thermal decomposition method using indium hydroxide microcubes as the precursor. The phase structures, morphologies, and optical properties of the final products were investigated in detail by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetric analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, and photoluminescence spectroscopy. These uniform single-crystalline microcubes may be useful in microelectronic and optoelectronic devices.

Single-Crystalline Indium Hydroxide and Indium Oxide Microcubes: Synthesis and Characterization

We demonstrated that MnFe2O4 spheres could be successfully prepared in large-scale via a facile solvothermal process. The average size of final products over a wide range from 40 to 420 nm was remarkably influenced by the experimental parameters, such as reaction duration, surfactants, and initial concentration of reagents. The structure, size, morphology, and magnetic properties of final products were characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and vibrating sample magnetometer. The magnetic properties of final products varied with the change of experimental conditions. Preliminary results revealed that this approach could be successfully extended to the preparation of other ferrite compounds.

A Facile Solvothermal Synthesis and Magnetic Properties of MnFe2O4 Spheres with Tunable Sizes

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Lanthanide hydroxide nanorods and their thermal decomposition to lanthanide oxide nanorods

Single-Crystalline Indium Hydroxide and Indium Oxide Microcubes: Synthesis and Characterization

A Facile Solvothermal Synthesis and Magnetic Properties of MnFe2O4 Spheres with Tunable Sizes