Thermally stable single atom Pt/m-Al2O3 for selective hydrogenation and CO oxidation

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 8; no. 1; p. 16100
• Main Authors: Zhang, Zailei, Zhu, Yihan, Asakura, Hiroyuki, Zhang, Bin, Zhang, Jiaguang, Zhou, Maoxiang, Han, Yu, Tanaka, Tsunehiro, Wang, Aiqin, Zhang, Tao, Yan, Ning
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 27.07.2017; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 1,3-Butadiene; 140/131; 140/146; 639/638/224/685; 639/638/77/887; Agglomeration; Aluminum; Aluminum oxide; Butadiene; Catalysts; Chemical industry; Clusters; Cobalt; Control stability; Humanities and Social Sciences; Hydrogenation; Metals; multidisciplinary; n-Hexane; Nanoparticles; Oxidation; Platinum; Reforming; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Single atom catalysts; Structural integrity; Thermal stability
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/ncomms16100

Single-atom metal catalysts offer a promising way to utilize precious noble metal elements more effectively, provided that they are catalytically active and sufficiently stable. Herein, we report a synthetic strategy for Pt single-atom catalysts with outstanding stability in several reactions under demanding conditions. The Pt atoms are firmly anchored in the internal surface of mesoporous Al 2 O 3 , likely stabilized by coordinatively unsaturated pentahedral Al 3+ centres. The catalyst keeps its structural integrity and excellent performance for the selective hydrogenation of 1,3-butadiene after exposure to a reductive atmosphere at 200 °C for 24 h. Compared to commercial Pt nanoparticle catalyst on Al 2 O 3 and control samples, this system exhibits significantly enhanced stability and performance for n -hexane hydro-reforming at 550 °C for 48 h, although agglomeration of Pt single-atoms into clusters is observed after reaction. In CO oxidation, the Pt single-atom identity was fully maintained after 60 cycles between 100 and 400 °C over a one-month period. Using precious noble elements as single atom metal catalysts is highly desirable and effective. Here the authors show the use of platinum atom catalysts anchored in mesoporous Al 2 O 3 for selective hydrogenation and CO oxidation that have better stability and performance compared to their nanoparticle counterparts.