Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 50011, USA.
Department of Chemical Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA.
Nat Commun. 2018 Dec 10;9(1):5258. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-07502-5.
Supported nanoparticles are broadly employed in industrial catalytic processes, where the active sites can be tuned by metal-support interactions (MSIs). Although it is well accepted that supports can modify the chemistry of metal nanoparticles, systematic utilization of MSIs for achieving desired catalytic performance is still challenging. The developments of supports with appropriate chemical properties and identification of the resulting active sites are the main barriers. Here, we develop two-dimensional transition metal carbides (MXenes) supported platinum as efficient catalysts for light alkane dehydrogenations. Ordered PtTi and surface PtNb intermetallic compound nanoparticles are formed via reactive metal-support interactions on Pt/TiCT and Pt/NbCT catalysts, respectively. MXene supports modulate the nature of the active sites, making them highly selective toward C-H activation. Such exploitation of the MSIs makes MXenes promising platforms with versatile chemical reactivity and tunability for facile design of supported intermetallic nanoparticles over a wide range of compositions and structures.
担载纳米粒子广泛应用于工业催化过程中，其中金属-载体相互作用（MSIs）可调节活性位。尽管人们普遍认为载体可以改变金属纳米粒子的化学性质，但系统地利用 MSIs 来实现所需的催化性能仍然具有挑战性。具有适当化学性质的载体的开发和活性位的确定是主要障碍。在这里，我们开发了二维过渡金属碳化物（MXenes）担载的铂作为高效的低碳烷烃脱氢催化剂。在 Pt/TiCT 和 Pt/NbCT 催化剂上，分别通过活性金属-载体相互作用形成有序的 PtTi 和表面 PtNb 金属间化合物纳米粒子。MXene 载体调节了活性位的性质，使它们对 C-H 活化具有很高的选择性。这种对 MSIs 的利用使 MXenes 成为很有前途的平台，具有广泛的化学反应性和可调性，可在广泛的组成和结构范围内方便地设计担载的金属间化合物纳米粒子。
