It is a challenge to selectively hydrogenate 4-nitrostyrene to 4-nitroethylbenzene, due to the similar energy barrier of hydrogenation of the nitro and vinyl groups. Herein, we
demonstrate that such selective hydrogenation can be achieved by Pd@Ru core–shell nanocubes that are prepared by epitaxial growth of a face-centered cubic Ru shell on Pd cubes. The core–shell structure of Pd@Ru nanocubes is confirmed by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy, and elemental mapping measurements. It is found that the electronic structure and hence the catalytic activity of the Pd@Ru nanocubes can be readily modulated by the Ru shell thickness. This is
manifested in electrochemical CO stripping measurements where a decrease of CO adsorption energy is observed on Pd@Ru nanocubes with the increase of the Ru shell
thickness. Results from this study suggest that deliberate structural engineering can be exploited to prepare bimetallic core–shell nanostructures for highly active and selective hydrogenation of organic molecules with multifunctional moieties.
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Exploring the Enhancement of Exchange Bias in Innovative Core/Shell/Shell Structures: Synthesis and Magnetic Properties of Co-Oxide/Co and Co-Oxide/Co/Co-Oxide Inverted Nanostructures
In this study, we investigate the enhancement of exchange bias in core/shell/shell structures by synthesizing single inverted core/shell (Co-oxide/Co) and core/shell/shell (Co-oxide/Co/Co-oxide) nanostructures through a two-step reduction and oxidation method. We evaluate the magnetic properties of the structures and study the effect of shell thickness on the exchange bias by synthesizing various shell thicknesses of Co-oxide/Co/Co-oxide nanostructures. The extra exchange coupling formed at the shell–shell interface in the core/shell/shell structure leads to a remarkable increase in the coercivity and the strength of the exchange bias by three and four orders, respectively. The strongest exchange bias is achieved for the sample comprising the thinnest outer Co-oxide shell. Despite the general declining trend of the exchange bias with Co-oxide shell thickness, we also observe a nonmonotonic behavior in which the exchange bias oscillates slightly as the shell thickness increases. This phenomenon is ascribed to the dependence of the antiferromagnetic outer shell thickness variation at the expense of the simultaneous opposite variation in the ferromagnetic inner shell.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2110603
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10443221
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Nanomaterials
- Volume:
- 13
- Issue:
- 5
- ISSN:
- 2079-4991
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 880
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13050880
