title: Nanomaterials. Influence of the support on surface rearrangements of bimetallic nanoparticles in real catalysts.
abstract: Catalysts used for heterogeneous processes are usually composed of metal nanoparticles dispersed over a high-surface-area support. In recent years, near-ambient pressure techniques have allowed catalyst characterization under operating conditions, overcoming the pressure gap effect. However, the use of model systems may not truly represent the changes that occur in real catalysts (the so-called material gap effect). Supports can play an important role in the catalytic process by providing new active sites and may strongly affect both the physical and chemical properties of metal nanoparticles. We used near-ambient pressure x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to show that the surface rearrangement of bimetallic (rhodium-palladium) nanoparticles under working conditions for ethanol steam reforming with real catalysts is strongly influenced by the presence of a reducible ceria support.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Energy Technologies and Centre for Research in NanoEngineering, Technical University of Catalonia, Diagonal 647, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Núria J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Divins
authors.affiliation: Department of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Barcelona, Martí i Franquès 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Inma
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Angurell
authors.affiliation: ALBA Synchrotron Light Source, Carretera BP 1413 Km. 3.3, 08290 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Escudero
authors.affiliation: ALBA Synchrotron Light Source, Carretera BP 1413 Km. 3.3, 08290 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Virginia
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pérez-Dieste
authors.affiliation: Institute of Energy Technologies and Centre for Research in NanoEngineering, Technical University of Catalonia, Diagonal 647, 08028 Barcelona, Spain. jordi.llorca@upc.edu.
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Llorca