28-Aug-2026 - Today Mario Pagliaro delivered the invited lecture "GrafeoPlad-Pd: Converting Palladium into an Exceptionally Stable Catalyst" at the international Workshop "Frontiers in nanocatalyst development for enery transition" (watch the video from 2:55:40) held at Bologna's CNR.

Dr Pagliaro described the successful entrapment of graphene oxide layers within the lattice of palladium nanoparticles first reported in a preprint posted at ChemRxiv and subsequently published in Green Synthesis and Catalysis, explaining why the entrapment of the graphene moiety in the lattice of metal crystallite opens new avenues in catalysis science and technology.

Pd nanoparticles, indeed, were not deposited by the team on the outer surface of graphene oxide, but the latter GO tightly entrapped within the crystal lattice of palladium.

Dubbed “GrafeoPlad-Palladium”, the resulting material comprised of aggregated hybrid nanoparticles was successfully applied by PhD student Matteo Formenti to catalyze the selective hydrogenation of nitrobenzene to aniline at room temperature.

Carried out at Milano's University Department of Chemistry under the joint guidance of Professor Cristina Della Pina and Mario Pagliaro, the doctorate ended in March 2027 when Matteo Formenti was granted the PhD title at the University of Milan.

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