title: Tackling CO Poisoning with Single-Atom Alloy Catalysts.
abstract: Platinum catalysts are extensively used in the chemical industry and as electrocatalysts in fuel cells. Pt is notorious for its sensitivity to poisoning by strong CO adsorption. Here we demonstrate that the single-atom alloy (SAA) strategy applied to Pt reduces the binding strength of CO while maintaining catalytic performance. By using surface sensitive studies, we determined the binding strength of CO to different Pt ensembles, and this in turn guided the preparation of PtCu alloy nanoparticles (NPs). The atomic ratio Pt:Cu = 1:125 yielded a SAA which exhibited excellent CO tolerance in H2 activation, the key elementary step for hydrogenation and hydrogen electro-oxidation. As a probe reaction, the selective hydrogenation of acetylene to ethene was performed under flow conditions on the SAA NPs supported on alumina without activity loss in the presence of CO. The ability to maintain reactivity in the presence of CO is vital to other industrial reaction systems, such as hydrocarbon oxidation, electrochemical methanol oxidation, and hydrogen fuel cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Tufts University , 4 Colby Street, Medford, Massachusetts 02155, United States.
authors.forename: Jilei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Tufts University , 62 Talbot Avenue, Medford, Massachusetts 02155, United States.
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, United States.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: X-ray Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory , 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, Illinois 60439, United States.
authors.forename: Sungsik
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Tufts University , 62 Talbot Avenue, Medford, Massachusetts 02155, United States.
authors.forename: Matthew D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Marcinkowski
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Tufts University , 62 Talbot Avenue, Medford, Massachusetts 02155, United States.
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Therrien
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of South Carolina , 301 Main Street, Columbia, South Carolina 29208, United States.
authors.forename: Christopher T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Tufts University , 62 Talbot Avenue, Medford, Massachusetts 02155, United States.
authors.forename: E Charles H
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Sykes
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Tufts University , 4 Colby Street, Medford, Massachusetts 02155, United States.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Flytzani-Stephanopoulos