Carbon-Aerogel-Supported Noble-Metal Nanoparticles as Hydrogenation Catalysts

We report a one-pot hydrothermal route for the atom-economical biosynthesis of C-aerogel-supported noble-metal nano-particles. A simple sugar derived from hemicellulose, e.g., xylose, and a natural phenol produced by brown algae, e.g., phloroglucinol, were used as renewable and abundant precursors. We demonstrated the versatility of the one-pot hydrothermal route to prepare Pt/C and Ru/C nanocomposites with tunable properties of both the carbonaceous support and supported metal nanoparticles. We obtained Ru nano-particles with an unusual face-centered-cubic structure. The Pt/C aerogel nanocomposites showed competitive properties as catalysts for a model hydrogenation reaction compared with analogous M/C catalysts.