Size-dependent strong metal-support interaction in TiO<sub>2</sub> supported Au nanocatalysts.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 33199710.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-020-19484-4 and PMC identifier 7669859.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
The strong metal-support interaction (SMSI) has long been studied in heterogonous catalysis on account of its importance in stabilizing active metals and tuning catalytic performance. As a dynamic process taking place at the metal-support interface, the SMSI is closely related to the metal surface properties which are usually affected by the size of metal nanoparticles (NPs). In this work we report the discovery of a size effect on classical SMSI in Au/TiO<sub>2</sub> catalyst where larger Au particles are more prone to be encapsulated than smaller ones. A thermodynamic equilibrium model was established to describe this phenomenon. According to this finding, the catalytic performance of Au/TiO<sub>2</sub> catalyst with uneven size distribution can be improved by selectively encapsulating the large Au NPs in a hydrogenation reaction. This work not only brings in-depth understanding of the SMSI phenomenon and its formation mechanism, but also provides an alternative approach to refine catalyst performance.