Molten Sn solvent expands liquid metal catalysis
Abstract Regulating favorable assemblies of metallic atoms in the liquid state provides promise for catalyzing various chemical reactions. Expanding the selection of metallic solvents, especially those with unique properties and low cost, enables access to distinctive fluidic atomic structures on th...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56222-0 |
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| author | Junma Tang Nastaran Meftahi Andrew J. Christofferson Jing Sun Ruohan Yu Md. Arifur Rahim Jianbo Tang Guangzhao Mao Torben Daeneke Richard B. Kaner Salvy P. Russo Kourosh Kalantar-Zadeh |
| author_facet | Junma Tang Nastaran Meftahi Andrew J. Christofferson Jing Sun Ruohan Yu Md. Arifur Rahim Jianbo Tang Guangzhao Mao Torben Daeneke Richard B. Kaner Salvy P. Russo Kourosh Kalantar-Zadeh |
| author_sort | Junma Tang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Regulating favorable assemblies of metallic atoms in the liquid state provides promise for catalyzing various chemical reactions. Expanding the selection of metallic solvents, especially those with unique properties and low cost, enables access to distinctive fluidic atomic structures on the surface of liquid alloys and offers economic feasibility. Here, Sn solvent, as a low-cost commodity, supports unique atomic assemblies at the interface of molten SnIn0.1034Cu0.0094, which are highly selective for H2 synthesis from hydrocarbons. Atomistic simulations reveal that distinctive adsorption patterns with hexadecane can be established with Cu transiently reaching the interfacial layer, ensuring an energy-favorable route for H2 generation. Experiments with a natural oil as feedstock underscore this approach’s performance, producing 1.2 × 10− 4 mol/min of H2 with 5.0 g of catalyst at ~93.0% selectivity while offering reliable scalability and durability at 260 °C. This work presents an alternative avenue of tuning fluidic atomic structures, broadening the applications of liquid metals. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-903e0e09c7954e0088b523b35818e668 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-903e0e09c7954e0088b523b35818e6682025-01-26T12:40:30ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-01-011611810.1038/s41467-025-56222-0Molten Sn solvent expands liquid metal catalysisJunma Tang0Nastaran Meftahi1Andrew J. Christofferson2Jing Sun3Ruohan Yu4Md. Arifur Rahim5Jianbo Tang6Guangzhao Mao7Torben Daeneke8Richard B. Kaner9Salvy P. Russo10Kourosh Kalantar-Zadeh11School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The University of SydneyDepartment of Civil and Construction Engineering, Swinburne University of TechnologySchool of Science, STEM College, RMIT UniversityCentre for Plasma Biomedicine, School of Electrical Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong UniversitySchool of Chemical Engineering, University of New South Wales (UNSW)School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The University of SydneySchool of Chemical Engineering, University of New South Wales (UNSW)School of Chemical Engineering, University of New South Wales (UNSW)School of Engineering, RMIT UniversityDepartment of Chemistry and Biochemistry and California NanoSystems Institute, University of California, Los AngelesSchool of Science, STEM College, RMIT UniversitySchool of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The University of SydneyAbstract Regulating favorable assemblies of metallic atoms in the liquid state provides promise for catalyzing various chemical reactions. Expanding the selection of metallic solvents, especially those with unique properties and low cost, enables access to distinctive fluidic atomic structures on the surface of liquid alloys and offers economic feasibility. Here, Sn solvent, as a low-cost commodity, supports unique atomic assemblies at the interface of molten SnIn0.1034Cu0.0094, which are highly selective for H2 synthesis from hydrocarbons. Atomistic simulations reveal that distinctive adsorption patterns with hexadecane can be established with Cu transiently reaching the interfacial layer, ensuring an energy-favorable route for H2 generation. Experiments with a natural oil as feedstock underscore this approach’s performance, producing 1.2 × 10− 4 mol/min of H2 with 5.0 g of catalyst at ~93.0% selectivity while offering reliable scalability and durability at 260 °C. This work presents an alternative avenue of tuning fluidic atomic structures, broadening the applications of liquid metals.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56222-0 |
| spellingShingle | Junma Tang Nastaran Meftahi Andrew J. Christofferson Jing Sun Ruohan Yu Md. Arifur Rahim Jianbo Tang Guangzhao Mao Torben Daeneke Richard B. Kaner Salvy P. Russo Kourosh Kalantar-Zadeh Molten Sn solvent expands liquid metal catalysis Nature Communications |
| title | Molten Sn solvent expands liquid metal catalysis |
| title_full | Molten Sn solvent expands liquid metal catalysis |
| title_fullStr | Molten Sn solvent expands liquid metal catalysis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Molten Sn solvent expands liquid metal catalysis |
| title_short | Molten Sn solvent expands liquid metal catalysis |
| title_sort | molten sn solvent expands liquid metal catalysis |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56222-0 |
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