Chapter 3
Catalysts via Atomic Layer Deposition
Rong Chen, Bin Shan, Xiao Liu, and Kun Cao
Abstract Heterogeneous catalysis is crucial to chemical industries, environmental
protection, energy storage, and conversion. The demand for catalysts with high
activity, selectivity, and stability drives the development of controlled and precise
synthesis of catalysts. An atomic-level control of catalyst structure will not only
provide better catalytic performance, but also help understanding the fundamental
catalytic mechanism and the associated structure–property relationship. Recently,
atomic layer deposition (ALD) has attracted great interest as an effective method of
catalyst design and synthesis due to its high controllability and uniformity for fabricating complex structures at the atomic level. Herein, the ALD technique for tailoring
active sites and composite structures of catalysts will be introduced and discussed,
which cover both supported metal catalysts and metal/oxide composite catalysts. In
particular, various strategies by modifying ALD processes will be presented for the
size, composition, and structure control of supported metal, alloy, and core–shell
nanoparticles. Several metal oxide composite structures are developed by adjusting
the metal oxide ALD processes, including porous overcoating structures, confined
coating, and selective coating structures. Finally, we wrap up the chapter with the
latest developments in ALD reactor design for catalysts synthesis and a summary
and perspectives of ALD method for catalysts synthesis and applications.
Keywords Atomic layer deposition · Catalyst design · Bimetallic catalysts · Oxide
coating structures · Selective deposition · Controllable synthesis · Composite
catalyst
R. Chen (B) · B. Shan · X. Liu · K. Cao
Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China
e-mail: rongchen@mail.hust.edu.cn
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
P. W. N. M. van Leeuwen and C. Claver (eds.), Recent Advances in Nanoparticle Catalysis,
Molecular Catalysis 1, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45823-2_3
69
Catalysts via Atomic Layer Deposition
Rong Chen, Bin Shan, Xiao Liu, and Kun Cao
Abstract Heterogeneous catalysis is crucial to chemical industries, environmental
protection, energy storage, and conversion. The demand for catalysts with high
activity, selectivity, and stability drives the development of controlled and precise
synthesis of catalysts. An atomic-level control of catalyst structure will not only
provide better catalytic performance, but also help understanding the fundamental
catalytic mechanism and the associated structure–property relationship. Recently,
atomic layer deposition (ALD) has attracted great interest as an effective method of
catalyst design and synthesis due to its high controllability and uniformity for fabricating complex structures at the atomic level. Herein, the ALD technique for tailoring
active sites and composite structures of catalysts will be introduced and discussed,
which cover both supported metal catalysts and metal/oxide composite catalysts. In
particular, various strategies by modifying ALD processes will be presented for the
size, composition, and structure control of supported metal, alloy, and core–shell
nanoparticles. Several metal oxide composite structures are developed by adjusting
the metal oxide ALD processes, including porous overcoating structures, confined
coating, and selective coating structures. Finally, we wrap up the chapter with the
latest developments in ALD reactor design for catalysts synthesis and a summary
and perspectives of ALD method for catalysts synthesis and applications.
Keywords Atomic layer deposition · Catalyst design · Bimetallic catalysts · Oxide
coating structures · Selective deposition · Controllable synthesis · Composite
catalyst
R. Chen (B) · B. Shan · X. Liu · K. Cao
Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China
e-mail: rongchen@mail.hust.edu.cn
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
P. W. N. M. van Leeuwen and C. Claver (eds.), Recent Advances in Nanoparticle Catalysis,
Molecular Catalysis 1, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45823-2_3
69