Zhong Geng, Xu Shaomao, Cui Mingjin, Dong Qi, Wang Xizheng, Xia Qinqin, Gao Jinlong, Pei Yong, Qiao Yun, Pastel Glenn, Sunaoshi Takeshi, Yang Bao, Hu Liangbing
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA.
Small. 2019 Nov;15(47):e1904881. doi: 10.1002/smll.201904881. Epub 2019 Oct 14.
Carbon-black-supported nanoparticles (CNPs) have attracted considerable attention for their intriguing catalytic properties and promising applications. The traditional liquid synthesis of CNPs commonly involves demanding operation conditions and complex pre- or post-treatments, which are time consuming and energy inefficient. Herein, a rapid, scalable, and universal strategy is reported to synthesize highly dispersed metal nanoparticles embedded in a carbon matrix via microwave irradiation of carbon black with preloaded precursors. By optimizing the amount of carbon black, the microwave absorption is dramatically improved while the thermal dissipation is effectively controlled, leading to a rapid temperature increase in carbon black, ramping to 1270 K in just 6 s. The whole synthesis process requires no capping agents or surfactants, nor tedious pre- or post-treatments of carbon black, showing tremendous potential for mass production. As a proof of concept, the synthesis of ultrafine Ru nanoparticles (≈2.57 nm) uniformly embedded in carbon black using this microwave heating technique is demonstrated, which displays remarkable electrocatalytic performance when used as the cathode in a Li-O battery. This microwave heating method can be extended to the synthesis of other nanoparticles, thereby providing a general methodology for the mass production of carbon-supported catalytic nanoparticles.
炭黑负载纳米颗粒（CNPs）因其引人入胜的催化性能和广阔的应用前景而备受关注。传统的CNPs液相合成通常需要苛刻的操作条件以及复杂的预处理或后处理，既耗时又能源效率低下。在此，我们报道了一种快速、可扩展且通用的策略，通过对预加载前驱体的炭黑进行微波辐射，合成嵌入碳基质中的高度分散金属纳米颗粒。通过优化炭黑用量，显著提高了微波吸收，同时有效控制了热耗散，使得炭黑温度迅速升高，仅6秒内就升至1270K。整个合成过程无需封端剂或表面活性剂，也无需对炭黑进行繁琐的预处理或后处理，显示出大规模生产的巨大潜力。作为概念验证，展示了使用这种微波加热技术合成均匀嵌入炭黑中的超细钌纳米颗粒（≈2.57 nm），当其用作锂氧电池的阴极时表现出卓越的电催化性能。这种微波加热方法可扩展到其他纳米颗粒的合成，从而为碳负载催化纳米颗粒的大规模生产提供了一种通用方法。
