Single metal atom or bimetallic alloy heterogeneous catalysts on a carbonaceous support produced by metal precursor deposition on exoelectrogen bacteria and pyrolyzing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021316290-A1
Application number	US-201917266333-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 6, 2019
Priority date	Aug 6, 2018
Publication date	Oct 14, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

Carbon-based single metal atom or bimetallic, trimetallic, or multimetallic alloy transition metal-containing catalysts derived from exoelectrogen bacteria and their methods of making and using thereof are described. The method comprising the steps of: (a) preparing a solution medium comprising at least an electron donor and an electron acceptor comprised of one or more salts of a transition metal; (b) providing exoelectrogen bacterial cells and mixing the exoelectrogen bacterial cells into the solution medium of step (a); (c) incubating the solution medium of step (b); (d) isolating the exoelectrogen bacterial cells from the incubated solution medium of step (c); and (e) pyrolyzing the exoelectrogen bacterial cells resulting in formation of the catalyst. The electron donor can be formate, acetate, or hydrogen.

First claim

1 . A single atom or bimetallic alloy catalyst comprising:
a carbonaceous support; a plurality of at least one type of zero-valent transition metal dispersed on the carbonaceous support.

2 . The catalyst of claim 1 , wherein the at least one zero-valent transition metal is a formed of a single atom of the zero-valent transition metal.

3 . The catalyst of claim 1 , wherein the at least one zero-valent transition metal is selected from the group consisting of Pt, Fe, Ag, Au, Pd, Rh, Ru, Ir, Co, Ni, Cu, and combinations thereof.

4 . The catalyst of claim 1 , wherein the at least one zero-valent transition metal is a bimetallic alloy of at least two transition metals.

5 . The catalyst of claim 4 , wherein the bimetallic alloy is selected from the group consisting of NiCo, NiCu, PtNi, IrNi, RhCo, PtCo, PtIr, PtRh, and combinations thereof.

6 . The catalyst of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of the at least one type of zero-valent transition metal is uniformly dispersed on surfaces of the carbonaceous support.

7 . The catalyst of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of the at least one type of zero-valent transition metal is formed of isolated single atoms of the zero-valent transition metal which are dispersed on the carbonaceous support.

8 . The catalyst of claim 4 , wherein the bimetallic alloy is uniformly dispersed on one or more surfaces of the carbonaceous support.

9 . The catalyst of claim 1 , wherein the catalyst does not comprise aggregates and/or clusters of zero-valent metals.

10 . The catalyst of claim 1 , wherein the carbonaceous support is a graphitized carbon.

11 . The catalyst of claim 1 , wherein the carbonaceous support is mesoporous.

12 . The catalyst of claim 11 , wherein the mesoporous carbonaceous support comprises mesopores having a volume ranging from about 0.1 to 0.8 cm 3 g −1 , about 0.1 to 0.7 cm 3 g −1 , about 0.1 to 0.6 cm 3 g −1 , about 0.1 to 0.5 cm 3 g −1 , about 0.1 to 0.4 cm 3 g −1 , about 0.1 to 0.3 cm 3 g −1 , or about 0.1 to 0.2 cm 3 g −1 .

13 . The catalyst of claim 1 , wherein the carbonaceous support has a surface area, as measured by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method, ranging from about 100 to 700 m 2 g −1 , about 100 to 650 m 2 g −1 , about 100 to 600 m 2 g −1 , or about 100 to 500 m 2 g −1 .

14 . The catalyst of claim 1 , wherein the carbonaceous support is a graphitized carbon comprising heteroatom doping; wherein the heteroatoms are selected from nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, sulfur, phosphorus, and combinations thereof.

15 . The catalyst of claim 14 , wherein the heteroatoms present in the carbonaceous support originate from exoelectrogen bacteria.
selected from the group consisting of Geobacter sulfurreducens, Desulfuromonas acetexigens, Geobacter metallireducens, Shewanella oneidensis MR-1, Shewanella putrefaciens IR-1, Clostridium butyricum, Rhodoferax ferrireducens, Aeromonas hydrophilia (A3), Desulfobulbus propionicus, Shewanella oneidensis DSP10 , Rhodoseudomonas palustris, Geothrix fermentans, Geopsychrobacter electrodiphilus , and combinations thereof.

16 . The catalyst of claim 1 , wherein the catalyst is an electrocatalyst or a photocatalyst.

17 . A method of preparing a single atom or bimetallic alloy catalyst of claim 1 , the method comprising the steps of:
(a) preparing a solution medium comprising at least an electron donor and an electron acceptor comprised of one or more salts of a transition metal; (b) providing exoelectrogen bacterial cells and mixing the exoelectrogen bacterial cells into the solution medium of step (a); (c) incubating the solution medium of step (b); (d) isolating the exoelectrogen bacterial cells from the incubated solution medium of step (c); and (e) pyrolyzing the exoelectrogen bacterial cells resulting in formation of the catalyst.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the electron donor is formate, acetate, or hydrogen.

19 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the transition metal of the one or more salts forms a soluble Mn + metal ion where n is 1, 2, or 3 and M is selected from the group consisting of Pt, Fe, Ag, Au, Pd, Rh, Ru, Ir, Co, Ni, and Cu.

20 . The method of claim 17 , wherein exoelectrogen bacterial cells are selected from the group consisting of Geobacter sulfurreducens, Desulfuromonas acetexigens, Geobacter metallireducens, Shewanella oneidensis MR-1, Shewanella putrefaciens IR-1, Clostridium butyricum, Rhodoferax ferrireducens, Aeromonas hydrophilia (A3), Desulfobulbus propionicus, Shewanella oneidensis DSP10 , Rhodoseudomonas palustris, Geothrix fermentans, Geopsychrobacter electrodiphilus , and combinations thereof.

Assignees

• Univ King Abdullah Sci & Tech

Inventors

• Pedireddy Srikanth
• Katuri Krishna P
• Sapireddy Veerraghavulu
• Saikaly Pascal E

Classifications

• B22F1/18

  Non-metallic particles coated with metal · CPC title

• B22F1/07

  Metallic powder characterised by particles having a nanoscale microstructure (nanosized particles B22F1/054) · CPC title

• B01J23/38

  of noble metals · CPC title

• B01J23/72

  Copper · CPC title

• H01M4/9083

  on carbon or graphite · CPC title