A facile strategy for engineering heterostructures of Pd nanoparticle-loaded metal-organic framework nanosheets as active hydrogenation catalysts

Heterostructures of metal nanoparticle-loaded metal-organic framework (MOF) nanosheets can integrate the advantages of MOFs and nanoparticles, and thus have been widely applied as catalysts in various hydrogenation reactions. Herein, we provided a facile strategy for engineering heterostructures of Pd nanoparticle-loaded Al-TCPP(Pd) nanosheets by controlled pyrolysis in the air. The as-prepared heterostructures have been well characterized by PXRD, SEM, TEM, and XPS. In addition, these heterostructures presented promising catalytic activities in hydrogenation reactions, while their catalytic performances can be varied by the pyrolysis temperature and time, which significantly affected the uniformity and size of the Pd nanoparticles on the Al-TCPP(Pd) nanosheets. This partial pyrolysis method could be used to prepare other heterostructures of metal nanoparticle-loaded MOFs.