Synthesis and Characterization of a Well-Defined Carbon Nanohorn-Supported Molybdenum Dioxo Catalyst by SMART-EM Imaging. Surface Structure at the Atomic Level

Abstract

Abstract The molybdenum dioxo catalyst CNH/MoO2 is prepared via direct grafting of (dme)MoO2Cl2 (dme = 1,2-dimethoxyethane) onto the graphitic surfaces of carbon nanohorn (CNH) substrates. The structure of this heterogeneous catalyst was characterized by SMART-EM, XPS, and ICP, and is found to have single isolated MoO2 species on the surface as well as a few multi-Mo species. The CNH/MoO2 complex exhibits excellent catalytic activity for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) hydrogenolysis, N-oxide reductions, and reductive carbonyl coupling, representing an informative model catalyst for structural and mechanistic investigations.