title: Nanocrystal bilayer for tandem catalysis.
abstract: Supported catalysts are widely used in industry and can be optimized by tuning the composition and interface of the metal nanoparticles and oxide supports. Rational design of metal-metal oxide interfaces in nanostructured catalysts is critical to achieve better reaction activities and selectivities. We introduce here a new class of nanocrystal tandem catalysts that have multiple metal-metal oxide interfaces for the catalysis of sequential reactions. We utilized a nanocrystal bilayer structure formed by assembling platinum and cerium oxide nanocube monolayers of less than 10 nm on a silica substrate. The two distinct metal-metal oxide interfaces, CeO(2)-Pt and Pt-SiO(2), can be used to catalyse two distinct sequential reactions. The CeO(2)-Pt interface catalysed methanol decomposition to produce CO and H(2), which were subsequently used for ethylene hydroformylation catalysed by the nearby Pt-SiO(2) interface. Consequently, propanal was produced selectively from methanol and ethylene on the nanocrystal bilayer tandem catalyst. This new concept of nanocrystal tandem catalysis represents a powerful approach towards designing high-performance, multifunctional nanostructured catalysts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Yusuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Chia-Kuang
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Tsung
authors.forename: Wenyu
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Ziyang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Huo
authors.forename: Susan E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Habas
authors.forename: Tetsuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Soejima
authors.forename: Cesar E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Aliaga
authors.forename: Gabor A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Somorjai
authors.forename: Peidong
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D002384:Catalysis; D002563:Cerium / Q000737:chemistry; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D053758:Nanoparticles; D010984:Platinum / Q000737:chemistry; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D002563:Cerium; D010984:Platinum; C030583:ceric oxide; D012822:Silicon Dioxide