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Title: Pt/Cu single-atom alloys as coke-resistant catalysts for efficient C–H activation

Journal Article · · Nature Chemistry
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/NCHEM.2915· OSTI ID:1426229
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [1];  [4];  [5];  [3];  [6]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Tufts Univ., Medford, MA (United States). Dept. of Chemistry
  2. Univ. College London, London (United Kingdom). Thomas Young Centre and Dept. of Chemical Engineering
  3. Tufts Univ., Medford, MA (United States). Dept. of Chemical and Biological Engineering
  4. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). X-ray Science Division
  5. Univ. College London, London (United Kingdom). Thomas Young Centre, London Centre for Nanotechnology and Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  6. Univ. College London, London (United Kingdom). Thomas Young Centre and Dept. of Chemical Engineering

The recent availability of shale gas has led to a renewed interest in C-H bond activation as the first step towards synthesis of fuels and fine chemicals. Heterogeneous catalysts based on Ni and Pt can perform this chemistry, but deactivate easily due to coke formation. Cu- based catalysts are not practical for this chemistry due to high C-H activation barriers, but their weaker binding to adsorbates offers resilience to coking. Utilizing Pt/Cu single atom alloys (SAAs) we examine C-H activation in a number of systems including methyl groups, methane, and butane using a combination of simulations, surface science, and catalysis studies. We find that Pt/Cu SAAs activate C-H bonds more efficiently than Cu, are stable for days under realistic operating conditions, and avoid the problem of coking typically encountered with Pt. Pt/Cu SAAs therefore offer a new approach to coke resistant C-H activation chemistry with the added economic benefit that the precious metal is diluted at the atomic limit.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF); Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Integrated Mesoscale Architectures for Sustainable Catalysis (IMASC)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); European Union (EU); Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC); Royal Society
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357; FG02-10ER16170; FG02-05ER15730; AC05-00OR22725; SC0012573; 616121
OSTI ID:
1426229
Journal Information:
Nature Chemistry, Vol. 10, Issue 3; ISSN 1755-4330
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 385 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Harnessing the Wisdom in Colloidal Chemistry to Make Stable Single-Atom Catalysts journal July 2018
Supported Noble‐Metal Single Atoms for Heterogeneous Catalysis journal July 2019
Static Regulation and Dynamic Evolution of Single‐Atom Catalysts in Thermal Catalytic Reactions journal November 2018
Nanocarbon Catalysts: Recent Understanding Regarding the Active Sites journal January 2020
Atomic‐Local Environments of Single‐Atom Catalysts: Synthesis, Electronic Structure, and Activity journal October 2019
Die facettenreiche Reaktivität heterogener Einzelatom‐Katalysatoren journal November 2018
Non‐metal Single‐Iodine‐Atom Electrocatalysts for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction journal July 2019
The Multifaceted Reactivity of Single-Atom Heterogeneous Catalysts journal October 2018
Non-metal Single-Iodine-Atom Electrocatalysts for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction journal July 2019
Graphene Supported Single Atom Transition Metal Catalysts for Methane Activation journal May 2018
Intermetallic Compounds as an Alternative to Single‐atom Alloy Catalysts: Geometric and Electronic Structures from Advanced X‐ray Spectroscopies and Computational Studies journal January 2020
Design of Noble Metal Electrocatalysts on an Atomic Level journal October 2018
Surface Atomic Regulation of Core–Shell Noble Metal Catalysts journal January 2019
Atomically Dispersed Pt on Screw‐like Pd/Au Core‐shell Nanowires for Enhanced Electrocatalysis journal October 2019
Ultrafine PtRu Dilute Alloy Nanodendrites for Enhanced Electrocatalytic Methanol Oxidation journal October 2019
Orbital mechanism of upright CO activation on Fe(100) journal June 2019
Insights into Single‐Atom Metal–Support Interactions in Electrocatalytic Water Splitting journal February 2019
Pt–Cu Alloy Nanoparticles Encapsulated in Silicalite-1 Molecular Sieve: Coke-Resistant Catalyst for Alkane Dehydrogenation journal January 2019
Cobalt single atoms anchored on N-doped ultrathin carbon nanosheets for selective transfer hydrogenation of nitroarenes journal April 2019
Control of coordinatively unsaturated Zr sites in ZrO2 for efficient C–H bond activation journal September 2018
Breaking the scaling relationship via thermally stable Pt/Cu single atom alloys for catalytic dehydrogenation journal October 2018
Non defect-stabilized thermally stable single-atom catalyst journal January 2019
Optimising surface d charge of AuPd nanoalloy catalysts for enhanced catalytic activity journal March 2019
Boosting oxygen evolution of single-atomic ruthenium through electronic coupling with cobalt-iron layered double hydroxides journal April 2019
Statistical learning goes beyond the d-band model providing the thermochemistry of adsorbates on transition metals journal October 2019
Quasi Pd1Ni single-atom surface alloy catalyst enables hydrogenation of nitriles to secondary amines journal November 2019
Platinum–copper single atom alloy catalysts with high performance towards glycerol hydrogenolysis journal December 2019
Light-driven methane dry reforming with single atomic site antenna-reactor plasmonic photocatalysts journal January 2020
Theory-guided design of catalytic materials using scaling relationships and reactivity descriptors journal November 2019
Single-atom tailoring of platinum nanocatalysts for high-performance multifunctional electrocatalysis journal May 2019
Strategies to break linear scaling relationships journal October 2019
Preparation of a Cu(BTC)-rGO catalyst loaded on a Pt deposited Cu foam cathode to reduce CO 2 in a photoelectrochemical cell journal January 2018
A nickel–iridium alloy as an efficient heterogeneous catalyst for hydrogenation of olefins journal January 2019
Study of the carbon cycle of a hydrogen supply system over a supported Pt catalyst: methylcyclohexane–toluene–hydrogen cycle journal January 2020
Tailorable synthesis of heterogeneous enzyme–copper nanobiohybrids and their application in the selective oxidation of benzene to phenol journal January 2020
Hollow structure engineering of FeCo alloy nanoparticles electrospun in nitrogen-doped carbon enables high performance flexible all-solid-state zinc–air batteries journal January 2020
Dissociation of CHD 3 on Cu(111), Cu(211), and single atom alloys of Cu(111) journal December 2018
Mo 6 S 8 -based single-metal-atom catalysts for direct methane to methanol conversion journal July 2019
Elucidating the composition of PtAg surface alloys with atomic-scale imaging and spectroscopy journal October 2019
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A sulfur-tethering synthesis strategy toward high-loading atomically dispersed noble metal catalysts journal October 2019
Dehydrogenation of Propane to Propylene Using Promoter-Free Hierarchical Pt/Silicalite-1 Nanosheets journal February 2019
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The quantum nature of hydrogen preprint January 2018

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