Metal nanoparticles, clusters, single atom or combination for sustainable catalysis

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• Professor Paolo Fornasiero - Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, ICCOM-CNR and INSTM, Trieste
• Monday 03 November 2025, 14:00-15:00
• Dept. of Chemistry, Pfizer Lecture Theater.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Sharon Connor.

Heterogeneous catalysts are generally based on nanoparticles, that nowadays can be synthesize with uniform size and shape. The precise structural and morphological control, coupled with the possibility to modulate the metal-support interactions, allowed us to have a step change increase in the activity. Sustainability considerations force to move from high metal loaded catalysts to low metal loaded systems, and possibly to metal free materials. (1) Single atom catalysts represent a great opportunity in this trend of maximization of specific catalytic performances (2-6). Recent debate is focused on the specific role of single site vs clusters and nanoparticles-based catalysts, with identification of cooperative effects.

References: M. Monai, M. Melchionna, P. Fornasiero, “From metal to metal-free catalysts: Routes to sustainable chemistry”, Adv.Catal., 63 2018, 1. M.J. Gawande, P. Fornasiero, R. Zbořil. “Carbon-based single atom catalysts for advanced applications” ACS Catal., 10 2020, 2231. Z. Gao, T. Montini, J. Mu, N. Luo, E. Fonda, P. Fornasiero, F. Wang, Photocatalytic methanol dehydrogenation promoted synergistically by atomically dispersed Pd and clustered Pd.”, J.Am.Chem.Soc., 146 2024, 24440. H. Hong, Z. Xu, B. Mei, W. Hu, P. Fornasiero, C. Wang, T. Wang, Y. Yue, T. Li, C. Yang, Q. Cui, H. Zhu, X. Bao, Science, 388 2025, 497. Z. Xu, M. Gao, Y. Wei, Y. Yue, Z. Bai, P. Yuan, P. Fornasiero, J.M. Basset, B. Mei, Z. Liu, H. Zhu, Mao Ye, X. Bao, “Pt migration-lockup in zeolite for stable propane dehydrogenation catalyst.” Nature, 643 2025,691. P. Jin, P. Guo, N. Luo, H. Zhang, C. Ni, R. Chen, W. Liu, R. Li, J. Xiao, G. Wang, F. Zhang, P. Fornasiero, F. Wang, “Photochemical H2 dissociation for nearly quantitative CO2 reduction to ethylene.” Science, 389 2025, 1037.

This talk is part of the Materials Chemistry Research Interest Group series.

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