Ultra-small Metal Particles for the Storage and Conversion of CO2, CH4 and H2

This website is dedicated to the design, synthesis and application of supported transition metal nanoclusters (ultra-small particles,  > 1 nm) for the storage and conversion of energetically important gases, i.e. carbon dioxide, methane and hydrogen.

The physical and chemical properties of nanoclusters depends greatly on the number of consitutent atoms owing to their increased surface-to-volume ratio (below the nanometre scale the majority of atoms are on the particle surface!) and to the discretisation of the energy levels in the solid state. In order to determine the effect of these phenomena it is crucial that the nanoclusters with well-controlled shapes and sizes (geometries) can be synthesised.

This projects makes use of metal-organic framework (MOF) materials as templates for nanocluster growth. Metal-organic frameworks are organic-inorganic hybrid crystalline solids. When organic and inorganic building blocks self-assemble they may form a large variety of pore geometries (Figure 1). 

Furthermore, MOFs may display chemical functionalities, which in turn may functionalise the surface of the embedded nanoclusters (Figure 2).

Both of these factors (geometry and surface) will have an impact on the activity of the nanoclusters for heterogeneous catalysis. The aim of this project is to assess them to be able to design and synthesise high-performance heterogeneous catalyst nanoclusters.