Surface composition of silver nanocubes and their influence on morphological stabilization and catalytic performance in ethylene epoxidation

Shiv Sangaru, Haibo Zhu, Devon C. Rosenfeld, Akshaya Kumar Samal, Dalaver H. Anjum, Jean-Marie Basset

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

24 Scopus citations

Abstract

Silver nanocubes with exposed (100) facets are reported to have improved selectivity with respect to their spherical counterparts for ethylene epoxidation. In the present study, we observe that the surface composition of the silver nanocubes have also a critical impact on activity. Detailed investigation of the surface composition of silver nanocubes has been carried out using HRTEM, SEM, EDS, EELS and EFTEM. Surfaces of silver nanocubes are “passivated” by chloride and its removal is essential to achieve any catalytic activity. However, the surface chloride is apparently essential for stabilizing the cubic morphology of the particles. Attempts were made to understand the competing effects of the surface species for retaining the morphology of the nanocubes and on their catalytic activity.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)28576-28584
Number of pages9
JournalACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
Volume7
Issue number51
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 18 2015

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