Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Wen-Cui Li.
Mesoporous MgAl2O4 spinel monolith was synthesized by the nanocasting pathway; high activity in CO oxidation was observed over gold catalysts based on such monoliths as support.
In this work, we present a detailed study concerning the evaluation of the metal-support interaction in high activity gold catalysts for CO oxidation. Using the colloidal deposition method, model catalysts were prepared, which allow the isolation of the effect of the support on the catalytic activity. Prefabricated gold particles were thus deposited on different support materials. Since the deposition process did not change the particle sizes of the gold particles, only the influence of the support could be studied. TiO2, Al2O3, ZrO2, and ZnO were used as support materials. Catalytic tests and high resolution transmission electron microscopy clearly show that the support contributes to the activity. However, our results are not in line with the distinction between active and passive supports based on the semiconducting properties of the oxidic material. The most active catalysts were obtained with TiO2 and Al2O3, while ZnO and ZrO2 gave substantially less active catalysts. Furthermore, the effect of other important parameters on the catalytic activity (i.e., particles size distribution, calcination temperature, and aging time for a Au/TiO2 catalyst) has also been studied. Using this preparation route, the catalysts show high-temperature stability, size dependent activity, and a very good long-term stability.
We reported an evidence for C-C bond cleavage by milder oxidizing agent H2O2 in a mesoporous CMK-5 type carbon at room temperature.
In this study, we present a synthetic pathway for the fabrication of self-supporting zeolite monoliths consisting of crystallized nanoparticles. A resorcinol-formaldehyde-based organic aerogel is used as a template, and silicalite-1 is used as the zeolite example. The silicalite-1 monoliths obtained consist of individual well-defined zeolite nanocrystals with sizes of 30-40 nm. The monoliths exhibit a high mechanical stability and have hierarchical porosity, with micropores within the zeolite particles, a mesopore system formed by the packing of the nanoparticles, and a macropore system on the monolith level. Such monolithic zeolites show high selectivity typically above 80% to epsilon-caprolactam combined with a high rate of reaction of 0.46 g(caprolactame)/(g(catalyst).h) in the Beckmann rearrangement of cyclohexanone oxime.
A strategy to synthesize amorphous, mesoporous alumina by nanocasting has been developed, involving carbon aerogel as a hard template and aluminum nitrate solution as an alumina precursor. The alumina generated exhibits small, transparent granules with a 3-6 mm diameter and has inherited the three-dimensional network structure of the carbon template. The mesopore surface area of the alumina can be as high as 365 m2 g(-1), and the pore volume reaches 1.55 cm3 g(-1) after calcination at 600 degrees C in air for 8 h. The pore parameters can be varied within a certain range by variation of the carbon aerogel template and the loading amount of the alumina precursor. At high loadings, the obtained glassy alumina clearly has a bimodal pore size distribution in the mesopore range.
The fabrication of carbon-shell protected cobalt nanoparticles and hollow graphitic shells has been achieved via a pyrolysis process by using monodispersed cobalt nanoparticles as a template. These materials are mesoporous and highly stable under strong acidic and basic conditions.
Magnetically separable mesostructured silica with an unobstructed pore system was fabricated through the deposition of cobalt nanoparticles on the outer surface of the submicron-sized silica particles. These cobalt nanoparticles were further protected by a nanometer-thick carbon shell against acid erosion. Due to the fact that the magnetic particles are grafted on the outer surface of the porous silica, the pores are still accessible for further modification, which could widen the application range of porous silica.
Polycondensation of a cresol mixture (C(m)) with formaldehyde (F) in basic aqueous solutions leads to formation of highly cross-linked C(m)F aquagels that can be supercritically dried with carbon dioxide to form organic C(m)F aerogels. Aerogels synthesized with different catalyst contents and reactant concentrations are characterized by low-temperature nitrogen adsorption. The present experimental results suggest that the C(m)F aerogels are typical mesoporous materials and have almost no micropores in bulk. The microstructure of the organic C(m)F aerogels can be controlled and tailored effectively by varying synthesis conditions during the initial sol-gel process. C(m)F organic aerogels with specific surface area as high as 627 m(2)/g and corresponding pore volume 2.06 ml/g have been obtained with a dominant pore size of 30 nm. C(m)F organic aerogels with peaky pore size distributions concentrated at 11 nm have also been prepared.