title: Selective hydrogenation of 1,3-butadiene on platinum-copper alloys at the single-atom limit.
abstract: Platinum is ubiquitous in the production sectors of chemicals and fuels; however, its scarcity in nature and high price will limit future proliferation of platinum-catalysed reactions. One promising approach to conserve platinum involves understanding the smallest number of platinum atoms needed to catalyse a reaction, then designing catalysts with the minimal platinum ensembles. Here we design and test a new generation of platinum-copper nanoparticle catalysts for the selective hydrogenation of 1,3-butadiene,, an industrially important reaction. Isolated platinum atom geometries enable hydrogen activation and spillover but are incapable of C-C bond scission that leads to loss of selectivity and catalyst deactivation. γ-Alumina-supported single-atom alloy nanoparticle catalysts with <1 platinum atom per 100 copper atoms are found to exhibit high activity and selectivity for butadiene hydrogenation to butenes under mild conditions, demonstrating transferability from the model study to the catalytic reaction under practical conditions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Tufts University, 62 Talbot Avenue, Medford, Massachusetts 02155, USA.
authors.forename: Felicia R
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Lucci
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Tufts University, 4 Colby Street, Medford, Massachusetts 02155, USA.
authors.forename: Jilei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Tufts University, 62 Talbot Avenue, Medford, Massachusetts 02155, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Marcinkowski
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Tufts University, 4 Colby Street, Medford, Massachusetts 02155, USA.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, PO Box 2008 MS-6064, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.
authors.forename: Lawrence F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Allard
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Tufts University, 4 Colby Street, Medford, Massachusetts 02155, USA.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Flytzani-Stephanopoulos
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Tufts University, 62 Talbot Avenue, Medford, Massachusetts 02155, USA.
authors.forename: E Charles H
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Sykes