Professor Samad Khaksar’s paper “Formation and stabilization of colloidal ultra-small palladium nanoparticles on diamine-modified Cr-MIL-101: Synergic boost to hydrogen production from formic acid”, co-authored by Sadegh Rostamnia, has been chosen as a “hot article” in the Web of Science Core Collection.

The article has been published in the Journal of Colloid and Interface Science - a top 10% journal in its field in the international Scopus database - and already received 56 citations in Google Scholar within a year.

What impact can this research have on human life, and how exactly is the article’s subject connected to those issues?

Hydrogen (H2), as a great clean energy source, has the ability to alleviate the long-term environmental and energy concerns that fossil fuels have created.

Safe and economical generation of a renewable element via dehydrogenation of low-cost and viable formic acid has attracted remarkable interest.

This study offers a new method of creating an ultra-small metal nanoparticle for the catalytic dehydrogenation of HCOOH.

How can students get involved in this field of study and why should they do so?

Students wishing to participate in this field of research can refer to Professor Khaksar at the University of Georgia and talk about how to collaborate. Participation in this project is highly recommended for graduate students, since the goal of the research is to obtain a safe and easily accessible renewable energy source, which is one of the main tasks of contemporary science.

What were some of the challenges, skills, and motivations involved in conducting this research?

Formic acid (HCOOH, FA) is a suitable liquid for storage and H2 production because it under normal conditions, it is non-toxic, renewable sources, easy rechargeability, and high H2 content (4.4%). However, H2 generating from FA in ambient conditions remains a big challenge, which primarily depends on the catalyst used. Activities in this field of research require experience and knowledge of nanocomposites and the basic concepts of heterogeneous catalyst chemistry.

Could you tell us about your donors and collaborators?

In this article, Prof. Khaksar’s research team from the Department of Chemistry, UG, collaborated with Prof Rostamnia from the Department of Chemistry, University of Maragheh, Iran.

Other researchers from China, South Korea, South Africa, and the Czech Republic also participated in the project.