Ultimate Strategy for Preventing Metal Nanoparticle Sintering in Polymer Derived Mesoporous SiCN Ceramics

Polymer-derived ceramics (PDCs) are increasingly recognised as robust supports for high-temperature catalysis. However, the efficiency of these catalysts is often compromised by the sintering of metal nanoparticles, which reduces the surface area available for efficient interaction with reactants. This article introduces a new synthetic approach to prevent nanoparticle sintering through co-polymerization, microphase separation, and pyrolysis. An efficient version of HD-Polyethylene synthesised via Ziegler’s Aufbaureaktion and aminopyridinato gold complex as a porogen block and precursor for the generation of gold nanoparticles respectively. Particularly, a commercially available precursor derived siliconcarbonitride (SiCN) is used as a model PDC to demonstrate effective prevention of gold nanoparticle sintering, in contrast to conventional methods that often lead to particle agglomeration. The successfully synthesised Au@SiCN catalyst overcoming the sintering phenomenon is characterised using transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, powder X-ray diffractometry, and nitrogen physisorption techniques. Our findings highlight the effectiveness of this innovative synthetic approach in maintaining nanoparticle dispersion as well as enhancing the performance of PDCs for catalytic and energy applications.