Reduction-immobilizing strategy of polymer-embedded sub-2 nm Cu nanoparticles with uniform size and distribution responsible for robust catalytic reactions.

Polymer-embedded metal nanoparticles are in great demand owing to their unique features, leading to their use in various important applications, including catalysis reactions. However, particle sintering and aggregation are serious drawbacks, resulting in a drastic loss of catalytic activity and recyclability. Herein, a reduction-immobilizing strategy of polymer-embedded sub-2 nm Cu nanoparticles offered highly controlled distribution and nanoparticle size within polymer structures with high fidelity. This work sheds light on the high catalytic performance of nanoparticles that rely on their ultrasmall size and uniform distribution in polymer structures, generating more active sites that result in high efficiency reduction of organic compounds. A catalysis study was carried out for the hydrogenation of nitro compounds, achieving nearly 100% reduction in an extremely short time and remaining stable after 15 consecutive cycles. Furthermore, the catalytic mechanism was demonstrated by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Notably, the discovery of this facile strategy may enable the remarkable cutting-edge design of catalyst materials with promising performance and stability.