Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Solution-phase heterogeneous catalysts benefit from nanoscale dimensions, which maximize specific surface area and enhance catalytic activity. However, the ease of recovering such nanocatalysts depends on the design of the support materials, which are often particle-like. Rigid 1D nanomaterials are proposed as supports that can enhance separability while offering high volumetric specific surface area for greater catalyst loading and activity. Here, aramid amphiphiles (AAs) are designed to spontaneously self-assemble in water into high-aspect-ratio supramolecular nanotubes with tunable surface chemistry. These AA nanotubes exhibit high persistence lengths (P = 750 ± 340 µm) and mechanical stiffnesses (3 N/m). Incorporating surface thiol groups enables immobilization of catalytic gold nanoparticles. The resulting AA nanotube-gold nanoparticle complexes exhibit high catalytic activity, efficient recoverability via simple microfiltration, and sustained reusability over ten reaction cycles. This study demonstrates the utility of molecular self-assembled 1D nanomaterials as versatile scaffolds for the reuse and recovery of nanoscale catalysts.
Source: Advanced Materials
Authors: Yukio Cho, Kiera Y. Tai, Guillaume Lamour, Ty Christoff‐Tempesta, Debaditya Bose Sinha, Yu‐Jin Choi, Rebecca Meacham, Dechen T. Rota, Siyu Wu, Xiaobing Zuo, Julia H. Ortony
Institutions: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Paris-Saclay, Laboratoire Analyse et Modélisation pour la Biologie et l'Environnement, CY Cergy Paris Université, Université d'Évry Val-d'Essonne, University of California, Irvine, University of California San Diego, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, Argonne National Laboratory, Advanced Photon Source
Language: English
Subfield: Biomaterials
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $6,070
Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, National Research Foundation, National Research Foundation of Korea, Office of Science, Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, Harvard University, Division of Materials Research, Division of Chemistry, Argonne National Laboratory
Awards: G102163711, G107546177, G1313983767, G1664757510, CAREER: Fundamentals of Conformational and Surface Water Dynamics in Supramolecular Nanofibers, G2287611682, G2295483553, G2560320828, G262962599, G3075337988, G318041215, G3202401936, G3589692066, G3886021922, G391170236, G4272823204, G498139845, G513797252, Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), G6578715121, G6754749538, G6848031779, G6918803902, MIT Materials Research Science and Engineering Center - Full Proposal, G7529866099, MRI: Acquisition of a Next Generation Nanofabrication Dual-beam Platform, G969889393, G993149817
OpenAlex ID: W4414407551