title: Current advances in precious metal core-shell catalyst design.
abstract: Precious metal nanoparticles are commonly used as the main active components of various catalysts. Given their high cost, limited quantity, and easy loss of catalytic activity under severe conditions, precious metals should be used in catalysts at low volumes and be protected from damaging environments. Accordingly, reducing the amount of precious metals without compromising their catalytic performance is difficult, particularly under challenging conditions. As multifunctional materials, core-shell nanoparticles are highly important owing to their wide range of applications in chemistry, physics, biology, and environmental areas. Compared with their single-component counterparts and other composites, core-shell nanoparticles offer a new active interface and a potential synergistic effect between the core and shell, making these materials highly attractive in catalytic application. On one hand, when a precious metal is used as the shell material, the catalytic activity can be greatly improved because of the increased surface area and the closed interfacial interaction between the core and the shell. On the other hand, when a precious metal is applied as the core material, the catalytic stability can be remarkably improved because of the protection conferred by the shell material. Therefore, a reasonable design of the core-shell catalyst for target applications must be developed. We summarize the latest advances in the fabrications, properties, and applications of core-shell nanoparticles in this paper. The current research trends of these core-shell catalysts are also highlighted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, People's Republic of China; Institute of NanoMicroEnergy, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiaohong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, People's Republic of China; Institute of NanoMicroEnergy, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Beibei
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, People's Republic of China; Institute of NanoMicroEnergy, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhiyu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Institute of NanoMicroEnergy, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhigang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.affiliation: New Energy Material Lab, Shanghai Institute of Technology, Shanghai 200435, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Sheng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Han
keywords: core–shell catalyst; metal oxide shell; precious metal core; precious metal shell; silica shell