Ultrathin Amorphous/Crystalline Heterophase Rh and Rh Alloy Nanosheets as Tandem Catalysts for Direct Indole Synthesis

Heterogeneous noble-metal-based catalysis plays an essential role in the production of fine chemicals. Rh-based catalysts are one of the most active candidates for indole synthesis. However, it is still highly desired to develop heterogeneous Rh-based catalysts with high activity and selectivity. In this work, a general, facile wet-chemical method is reported to synthesize ultrathin amorphous/crystalline heterophase Rh and Rh-based bimetallic alloy nanosheets (NSs), including RhCu, RhZn, and RhRu. Impressively, the amorphous/crystalline heterophase Rh NSs exhibit enhanced catalytic activity toward the direct synthesis of indole compared to the crystalline counterpart. Importantly, the obtained amorphous/crystalline heterophase RhCu alloy NSs can further enhance the selectivity to indole of >99.9% and the conversion is 100%. This work demonstrates the importance of phase engineering and metal alloying in the rational design and synthesis of tandem heterogeneous catalysts toward fine chemical synthesis.