title: Ultrafine Nanoparticle-Supported Ru Nanoclusters with Ultrahigh Catalytic Activity.
abstract: The design of an ideal heterogeneous catalyst for hydrogenation reaction is to impart the catalyst with synergetic surface sites active cooperatively toward different reaction species. Herein a new strategy is presented for the creation of such a catalyst with dual active sites by decorating metal and metal oxide nanoparticles with ultrafine nanoclusters at atomic level. This strategy is exemplified by the design and synthesis of Ru nanoclusters supported on Ni/NiO nanoparticles. This Ru-nanocluster/Ni/NiO-nanoparticle catalyst is shown to exhibit ultrahigh catalytic activity for benzene hydrogenation reaction, which is 55 times higher than Ru-Ni alloy or Ru on Ni catalysts. The nanoclusters-on-nanoparticles are characterized by high-resolution transmission electron microscope, Cs-corrected high angle annular dark field-scanning transmission electron microscopy, elemental mapping, high-sensitivity low-energy ion scattering, and X-ray absorption spectra. The atomic-scale nanocluster-nanoparticle structural characteristics constitute the basis for creating the catalytic synergy of the surface sites, where Ru provides hydrogen adsorption and dissociation site, Ni acts as a "bridge" for transferring H species to benzene adsorbed and activated at NiO site, which has significant implications to multifunctional nanocatalysts design for wide ranges of catalytic reactions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, National Engineering Laboratory for Green Productions of Alcohols-Ethers-Esters, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China.|School of Metallurgy and Chemical Engineering, Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, Ganzhou, 341000, Jiang Xi, China.
authors.forename: Lihua
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310027, China.
authors.forename: Yingying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, National Engineering Laboratory for Green Productions of Alcohols-Ethers-Esters, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China.
authors.forename: Jinbao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, National Engineering Laboratory for Green Productions of Alcohols-Ethers-Esters, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China.
authors.forename: Nuowei
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Metallurgy and Chemical Engineering, Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, Ganzhou, 341000, Jiang Xi, China.
authors.forename: Changlin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, National Engineering Laboratory for Green Productions of Alcohols-Ethers-Esters, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China.
authors.forename: Yunhua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Hsinchu, 300, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chih-Wen
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Pao
authors.affiliation: National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Hsinchu, 300, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Jeng-Lung
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310027, China.
authors.forename: Chuanhong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Hsinchu, 300, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Jyh-Fu
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, NY, 13902, USA.
authors.forename: Chuan-Jian
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, National Engineering Laboratory for Green Productions of Alcohols-Ethers-Esters, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China.
authors.forename: Bing H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Chen
keywords: Ru nanoclusters; catalysis; catalytic hydrogenation; metal nanoparticles; metal oxide nanoparticles, multifunctional sites