Designed synthesis of MOx (M = Zn, Fe, Sn, Ni, Mn, Co, Ce, Mg, Ag), Pt, and Au nanoparticles supported on hierarchical CuO hollow structures.

Despite intensive research into support substrates for the dispersal of nanoparticles and their applications, there has been a lack of general methods to produce metal oxide hollow substrates supporting a wide range of metal and metal oxides. Herein, a synthetic protocol for the preparation of CuO hollow structure-supported MOx (M = Zn, Fe, Ni, Sn, Mn, Co, Ce, Mg, and Ag) and noble metals (Pt and Au) with the desired properties and shell structure, such as CuO/Fe2O3, CuO/ZnO, CuO/SnO2, CuO/MgO, CuO/NiO, CuO/Mn2O3, CuO/CoO, CuO/CeO2, CuO/Ag2O, CuO/Pt, CuO/Au hollow cubes, CuO/ZnO double-shell hollow cubes, CuO/SnO2 double-shell hollow octahedra, CuO/SnO2/Fe2O3 and CuO/Mn2O3/NiO double-shell hollow cubes, was developed based on controlled calcination and etching. These hybrid hollow structures were employed not only as support substrates but also as active constituents for catalytic reactions. As an example, we demonstrated that CuO/ZnO hollow cubes are remarkably efficient in converting solid chitin biomass to liquid chemicals in methanol. In addition, CuO/ZnO double-shell hollow cubes were highly effective in the oxidation of benzyl alcohol in the presence of H2O2, whereas CuO/Pt and CuO/Au hollow cubes promoted the oxidation of benzyl alcohol in pure O2. The strategy developed in this work extends the controllable fabrication of high-quality CuO hollow structure-supported nanoparticles using various compositions and shell structures, paving the way to the exploration and systematic comparison of these materials in a wider range of applications.