The integration of metal/metal oxide nanoparticles (NPs) into metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) to form composite materials has attracted great interest due to the broad range of applications. However, to date, it has not been possible to encapsulate metastable NPs with high catalytic activity into MOFs, due to their instability during the preparation process. For the first time, we have successfully developed a template protection–sacrifice (TPS) method to encapsulate metastable NPs such as Cu₂O into MOFs. SiO₂ was used as both a protective shell for Cu₂O nanocubes and a sacrificial template for forming a yolk–shell structure. The obtained Cu₂O@ZIF‐8 composite exhibits excellent cycle stability in the catalytic hydrogenation of 4‐nitrophenol with high activity. This is the first report of a Cu₂O@MOF‐type composite material. The TPS method provides an efficient strategy for encapsulating unstable active metal/metal oxide NPs into MOFs or maybe other porous materials.

中文翻译：

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二氧化硅保护辅助将Cu2O纳米立方封装到金属有机框架（ZIF-8）中以提供复合催化剂

将金属/金属氧化物纳米颗粒（NPs）集成到金属有机骨架（MOFs）中以形成复合材料，由于其广泛的应用而引起了极大的兴趣。但是，迄今为止，由于其在制备过程中的不稳定性，因此不可能将具有高催化活性的亚稳NP封装到MOF中。我们首次成功开发了一种模板保护牺牲（TPS）方法，将亚稳NP（例如Cu ₂ O ）封装到MOF中。SiO ₂既用作Cu ₂ O纳米立方体的保护壳，又用作形成卵黄壳结构的牺牲模板。所得的Cu ₂O @ ZIF-8复合材料在4-硝基苯酚的催化加氢中表现出出色的循环稳定性，并具有很高的活性。这是Cu ₂ O @ MOF型复合材料的首次报道。TPS方法提供了将不稳定的活性金属/金属氧化物NP封装到MOF或其他多孔材料中的有效策略。