bridging the gap between surface science and industrial catalysis
TRANSCRIPT
Bridging the Gap between SurfaceScience and Industrial CatalysisFrederic C. Meunier*
Laboratoire de Catalyse et Spectrochimie, ENSICAEN-CNRS-University of Caen, 14050 Caen, France
The enormous impact of heteroge-neous catalysis on the quality of ourdaily life is often underestimated.
Transportation fuels, plastics and fibers, fer-
tilizers, pollution control systems, food pro-
cessing, and fragrances are all classical ex-
amples of products or processes in which
heterogeneous catalysis plays a role in re-
ducing manufacturing or operation costs
and limits waste production. The under-
standing of the structure�activity relation-
ship of catalytic materials has always been
complicated by the complexity and nonuni-
form structure of catalyst particles, thereby
hampering catalyst development. Surface
science techniques and the investigation of
single-crystal surfaces have been crucial in
unraveling many aspects of reaction mech-
anisms, and the 2007 Nobel Prize awarded
to Gerhard Ertl was an acknowledgment of
these outstanding achievements.1 How-
ever, industrial catalysts are only remotely
related to the perfect surfaces traditionally
studied by surface science techniques. Typi-
cal commercial materials consist largely of
a mixture of phases that can differ in stoichi-
ometry, bulk and surface structure, particle
shape and size, defects, impurities, and in-
teractions with a supporting substrate (to
different extents), which can induce struc-
tural and electronic modifications to the ac-
tive phase. Usually, the support itself also
presents a complex nonhomogeneous
surface.
Nanoparticles as Model Catalytic Systems. The
study of model well-defined metal nanopar-ticles has highlighted important features ofheterogeneous catalytic reactions and hasbeen a major step toward understanding in-dustrial catalysts.2,3 For example, Au-basedmaterials were shown to exhibit markedlydifferent catalytic properties for the oxida-tion of CO with O2 depending on the size ofAu nanoclusters supported on a single-crystal TiO2(110) surface. The critical sizefor the Au nanoclusters was �3.5 nm diam-eter, under which high catalytic activitywas observed.4 Lambert and co-workers re-cently reported the preparation of Au nano-particles using various synthetic techniquesand deposition on a range of inert sup-ports for styrene oxidation with molecularoxygen, for which the critical size for the Auparticles was �2 nm.5
Somorjai and co-workers investigatedthe structure�activity relationship of �12nm Pt particles supported on silicon wafersand stabilized with tetradecyltrimethylam-monium bromide (TTAB), an emulsifier act-ing as a stabilizing agent.6 The Pt nanocrys-tals exhibited mostly either cuboidal orcuboctahedral shapes; the cubic particlesdisplayed only Pt(100) planes at the surface,while both Pt(100) and Pt(111) planes werepresent in the case of cuboctahedral crys-tals (Figure 1). The samples were tested fora structure-sensitive reaction, benzene hy-drogenation. Only cyclohexane was ob-served in the case of the cubic particles,while both cyclohexane and cyclohexenewere detected in the case of the cuboctahe-dral crystals. The intrinsic activity (that is,
See the accompanying Article by Tsanget al. on p 2547.
*Address correspondence [email protected].
Published online December 23, 2008.10.1021/nn800787e CCC: $40.75
© 2008 American Chemical Society
Understanding the
structure�activity
relationships of catalytic
materials has always been
complicated by the complexity
and nonuniform structures of
catalyst particles, thereby
hampering catalyst
development.
ABSTRACT Understanding the
structure�activity relationships of
catalytic solids has always been
hampered by the complexity and
nonuniform structures of catalyst
particles. Materials based on well-
defined colloidal metal particles are
ideal model solids to investigate such
structure�activity relationships. A new
paper by Tsang et al. in this issue
indicates that highly selective �,�-
unsaturated aldehyde hydrogenation
Pt-based catalysts can be obtained
following the decoration of Pt
nanocrystals with a second metal. The
effects of the particle size, substrate
shape, and electronic modifications were
related to the sample activity. The
possibility of depositing these tailor-
made colloidal particles onto
conventional supports opens exciting
new routes toward rational catalyst
design and ultraselective catalytic
processes.
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the rate normalized to the numberof surface atoms) observed wasalso different from that calculatedfrom the combination of the activ-ity of Pt(100) and Pt(111) surfacesdetermined over single-crystals. ThePt atoms at the surface of the nano-particles exhibited 3-fold higher ac-tivity as compared to the Pt atomspresent over the correspondingsingle-crystal surface. These resultsstress that significant differencescan be expected between the activ-ity measured over single-crystal sur-faces and that obtained over metalnanoparticles, albeit as large as 12nm.
Co-Decorated Pt Nanocrystals forSelective Hydrogenation. In an articlepublished in this issue, Tsang et al.describe the preparation of nonsup-ported Pt particles made via a col-loid technique with various sizesranging from 24 nm down to 2.8nm, each sample presenting a nar-
row size distribution, en-abling thorough investiga-tion of any potential size-activity relationship.7 The2.8 nm diameter particlescorrespond to a metal dis-persion of �35%, meaningthat about a third of the Ptatoms are located at thesurface of the particles.Similar or even higher dis-persion is usually sought forcommercial catalysts, forobvious activity versus ma-terial cost reasons. The se-lective hydrogenation of�,�-unsaturated aldehydeswas used as a model reac-tion, in which the preferen-tial hydrogenation of thecarbonyl function to yieldan unsaturated alcohol wastargeted, while the hydro-genation of the CAC wouldbe prevented. The largerparticles exhibited thehighest selectivity to theunsaturated alcohol, whichseemed to level off at�85% with increasing par-ticle diameter. In contrast, aselectivity lower than 50%
was measured for all samples withparticle diameter lower than 5 nm.
Tsang et al.7 decorated 4.8 nm-large Pt nanoparticles (typical metaldispersion ca. 20%) with cobalt di-rectly in the colloidal suspensionused to prepare the metal particles,using cobalt acetyl acetonate as co-balt precursor.7 This technique islikely to lead to a homogeneous dis-tribution of Co, as opposed to tradi-tional methods, such as incipientwetness impregnation. Interest-ingly, the authors showed that theCo precursor decomposition wasactually catalyzed by the platinumand that the Co uptake was limited,possibly only to Pt sites with a lowcoordination number. The Co deco-ration led to an outstanding and un-precedented increase of the selec-tivity to the unsaturated alcohol,which was above 99% for some ofthe Co�Pt samples. It is also inter-esting to note that the Co decora-
tion had essentially no effect onthe catalytic activity of Pt particleswith diameters larger than 15 nm.
Tsang et al.7 carried out IR stud-ies using carbon monoxide as aprobe molecule to cast light on thenature of the Pt sites present in theparent and Co-decorated samples.7
Unusual Pt-multicarbonyl specieswere observed in the case of theparent material, along with morecommon linear and bridged carbo-nyl species. This observation wasprobably related to a high concen-tration of low-coordination Pt at-oms forming defective sites. Such ahigh concentration of defects islikely related to the fact that the Ptparticles were not subjected to anythermal treatment following colloidpreparation, contrary to traditionalpreparation routes. In the case ofthe Co-decorated sample, the Pt-multicarbonyl band was absent,supporting the analysis that the Cospecifically decorated Pt sites with alow coordination number.
The particle size-dependent ef-fect of the Co decoration, whichwas not observed in the case of thelarger Pt particles, was attributed tothe electron donation effect of theCo atoms, which modified the Ptelectronic structure and created apolarized interface. This assumption
Figure 1. TEM images of TTAB-stabilized particles of platinumwith (a) mostly cubic shape (average size: 12.3 � 1.4 nm) and(b) mostly cuboctahedral shape (average size: 13.5 � 1.5 nm).Reprinted from ref 6. Copyright 2007 American Chemical Soci-ety.
Tsang et al. indicated
that decoration with
other metals led to a
range of selectivity
varying in a volcano-
shape manner as a
function of position in
the periodic table, with
Co being the optimum
promoter.
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was supported by the red-shift ofthe vibration of the CO linearly ad-sorbed on Pt present on flat sur-faces and by X-ray photoelectronspectroscopy analysis of the Co�Ptmaterials.7 These electronic andelectrostatic effects (the latter ofwhich would influence the adsorp-tion mode on and reactivity of thepolar substrate) will naturally begreater in the case of the smaller Ptparticles, while larger crystals will beessentially unaffected.
The work reported by Tsang etal.7 emphasizes that catalysts basedon colloidal metal particles are idealmodel solids to investigatestructure�activity relationships ofmetals.7 This is especially importantin the case of small nanoparticles(�5 nm) such as those produced bytheir methods, since those relatewell to the size of traditional sup-ported metal particles. The effectsof particle size and geometry andthe electronic modifications by het-eroatoms on the material activitycan then be independently exam-ined. To this end, Tsang et al. indi-cated that decoration with othermetals led to a range of selectivityvarying in a volcano-shaped man-ner as a function of position in the
periodic table, with Co be-ing the optimum promoter.More detailed work will beuseful in defining the posi-tion of the metal promoteratoms, possibly usingatom-resolved scanningtunneling microscopy(STM) studies, whichproved crucial in determin-ing the structure of hy-drodesulfurizationalumina-supported MoS2
catalysts modified by Co.8
The deposition of thesehighly selective Co�Pt par-ticles onto carbon-basedsupports led to catalystsexhibiting the same out-standing selectivity and ac-tivity.7 The effect of more reactivesupports can also be investigated,to unravel the details of potentialstrong metal�support interactions(SMSIs) and discriminate betweensize/shape effects on the one handand support interactions on theother (Scheme 1). In fact, elucidat-ing the exact role of oft-misnamed“inert” supports represents a lastingchallenge for the catalysis commu-nity; Lambert and co-workers em-phasized this point in their recentreport.5 Understanding the effect ofthe support is paramount, since alarge number of applications ofnoble metals involve the use oflarge surface area and chemicallyreactive metal oxides, especially inthe automotive and petrochemicalindustry. An understanding of therole of novel active catalytic coat-ings present in metal-oxidecore�shell catalysts, also devel-oped by Tsang and co-workers,9
would also lead to the rationalmodification of the metallic core.Composites based on cerium oxide,showing essentially no accessible Ptmetal at the surface of the “metal-in-ceria” catalyst,10 present interest-ing catalytic properties that havebeen ascribed to electronicallymodified ceria.11
Other advanced methods forthe preparation of metal nanoparti-cles with narrow size distributions in
the gas or liquid phase have re-cently been described. The prepara-tion of Au particles as small as 1.5nm was reported and based on 55-atom Au “magic” clusters.5 Caps etal. proposed a new method basedon laser vaporization of binary alloyrods to prepare pure Au or Au-containing alloy particles with nar-row particle sizes as low as 1.5 nm.12
Somorjai and co-workers showedthat the epitaxial growth of binaryPd/Pt nanocrystals with specificshapes was possible.13 All thesemethods can lead to the prepara-tion of unsupported metal particlesthat can be deposited subsequentlyon various carriers as required forinvestigations of well-definedmodel catalysts.
The materials prepared by thetechniques mentioned here areextremely useful when used asreference samples to unravel theprevailing structures of the sup-ported metal particles under reac-tion conditions. This would beparticularly appropriate for reac-tions involving CO, such as COoxidation, the Fischer�Tropschsynthesis, and the water�gasshift reaction, since CO is a verysensitive molecular probe. Theuse of operando IR spectroscopywould allow comparison of thesignal due to the absorption bythe carbonyl present at the cata-
Scheme 1. The availability of well-defined metal nanoparticlesshould allow better understanding of the modification of thecatalytic activity and selectivity depending on the features ofthe metal nanoparticles and the materials obtained followingdeposition on mostly inert well-defined supports or strongly in-teracting carriers. The activity of metal core�support shellcomposites could also be unraveled in greater detail.
Understanding the
effect of the support is
paramount, since a
large number of
applications of noble
metals involve the use
of large surface area and
chemically reactive
metal oxides, especially
in the automotive and
petrochemical industry.
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lyst surface with that on the
model materials, thereby lifting
the ambiguity of band assign-
ments and revealing the true na-
ture of the metal active sites un-
der reaction conditions.14 In
addition to traditional supports,
the nanoparticles could also be
supported on carbon nanotubes,
which offer well-defined and
smooth surfaces for the prepara-
tion of dispersed nanoparticles.
Thus, extremely well-defined
model catalysts including a metal-
lic active phase and an inert sup-
port would be available for funda-
mental studies.15 In particular,
these model materials should en-
able a better direct comparison of
experimental and computational
data pertaining to the
structure�activity relationships
of supported metals.3,16,17
CONCLUSIONS ANDPROSPECTS
The work by Tsang et al.7 epito-
mizes the often elusive target of
catalyst developers that is the ra-
tional design of optimized cata-
lytic materials through the un-derstanding of therelationship between catalyststructure and activity (Scheme2).7 Such an achievement waspossible because of the devel-opment of controlled synthe-sis methods for the prepara-tion of nanometer-sized metalparticles exhibiting similarshapes and narrow size distri-butions, relevant to those ofconventional supported metalcatalysts. The increasing num-ber of synthetic methods forthe preparation of well-defined nanoparticles for awide range of metal and al-loys stimulated by the devel-opments of nanoscience andadvanced characterizationmethods opens an exciting fu-ture for the heterogeneous ca-talysis community.
REFERENCES AND NOTES
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Scheme 2. Features for the rational design of catalystsbased on model materials.
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