Cultivation of bottom-up preparation method for size-regulated nanocomposites with zero-valent rare-earth metals

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K18978
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 34:Inorganic/coordination chemistry, analytical chemistry, and related fields
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: Muratsugu Satoshi 名古屋大学, 理学研究科, 准教授 (20545719)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-07-09 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 合金ナノ粒子 / 白金 / 希土類金属 / 多孔性炭素担体 / 白金錯体 / 希土類金属錯体 / TEM / TEM

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The aim of this research is to investigate the bottom-up preparation method and properties of zero-valent lanthanide (Ln) metal nanocomposites, and the preparation of size-regulated, single-phase platinum (Pt) and zero-valent Ln alloy nanoparticles (NPs) was particularly focused on. By introducing two methods (1) the usage of Pt and Ln metal complex without O atoms to suppress the formation of Ln oxides, and (2) the usage of mesoporous carbon support to regulate the NP size, and Pt-La/Gd alloy NPs of narrow size distributions were selectively prepared, whose structures were characterized by XRD, TEM, HAADF-STEM-EDS, XAFS, and XPS. The catalytic oxygen reduction reaction activity of the prepared Pt-Ln and Pt-Gd NPs were found out to be larger than those of Pt nanoparticles of similar size distributions, respectively.

Free Research Field

無機化学、錯体化学、触媒化学、電気化学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究で開発した粒径分布を抑制したPt-Ln合金ナノ粒子の調製手法は、遷移金属はPtに限ることなく、希土類金属はLa, Gdに限ることなく適用可能な汎用性の広い手法であり、未知の組成、構造の合金ナノ粒子材料を生み出すことが期待される。今回調製に成功したPt-Ln合金ナノ粒子は、酸素還元反応高活性化の因子解明も踏まえて、高活性・高耐久性電極触媒調製に向けての設計指針提供が可能と期待される。燃料電池電極触媒への展開が実現できれば、貴金属/希土類金属の有効利用、エネルギーの有効利用に資することが期待でき、地球環境問題の解決にも大きく貢献する。