How surface chemistry influences bimetallic and intermetallic catalyst synthesis

Commonly used approaches for the synthesis of supported bimetallic and intermetallic catalysts include coimpregnation, coprecipitation, and coadsorption, which often yield nonuniform alloying and phase segregation, largely owing to the lack of interactions between different metal precursors. In a recent article published in Chem. Eng. J., we show that by sequential adsorption of metal cations and anions with the assistance of a proper ligand, the interaction between different metal precursors is greatly enhanced, thus resulting in uniformly alloyed intermetallic catalysts. The supported CuPd intermetallic (B2 phase) catalyst exhibits greatly improved selectivity towards monoolefins in the semihydrogenation of acetylene and butadiene compared to those random CuPd alloys synthesized via conventional coimpregnation and coadsorption methods.

This work stems from our previous work published in Science (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aau4414), which describes a general surface inorganometallic chemistry for the synthesis of supported bimetallic nanoparticles. In the current Chem. Eng. J. work, the introduction of ligand engineering brought this synthesis approach to a new level. We look forward to employing this powerful method in more bimetallic and intermetallic catalyst synthesis for several applications.

My previous postdoc, Dr. Peng Zhai, and ORNL collaborator, Dr. Dave Cullen, contributed to this work. Here is a link for free access to this article: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1iIz1_VWlWH3SQ