Amorphous strategy to nickel oxide nanosheets for highly active and selective hydrogenation reaction

Transition metal oxides (TMOs) as low-cost hydrogenation catalysts exhibit high selectivity and durability. However, due to the lack of metal activation sites required for H2 dissociation, the harsh conditions such as high pressure (1–5 MPa H2) and high temperature (100–250°C) are usually needed to achieve H2 activation. Herein, we developed an amorphous nickel oxide nanosheets with an exceptionally low coordination number of the Ni-Ni shell, and this unique feature not only facilitated H2 activation but also preserved remarkable selectivity (∼99%) in the hydrogenation of vinyl group under mild conditions (room temperature (25°C) and low H2 pressure (100 kPa)).