Understanding and Harnessing Nanoscale Immiscibility in Ru-In Alloys for Selective CO Hydrogenation.

Bimetallic alloys made from immiscible elements are characterized by their tendency to segregate on the macroscopic scale, but their behavior is known to change at the nanoscale. Here, we demonstrate that in the Ru-In system, In atoms preferentially decorate the surface of 6 nm Ru nanoparticles, forming Ru-In superficial immiscible alloys. This surface decoration dramatically affects the catalytic performance of the system, even at small atomic fractions of In added to Ru. The interfaces between Ru and In enabled unexplored methanol productivity from CO hydrogenation, which outperformed not only the individual constituents but also ordered RuIn intermetallic alloys. Our work highlights that the formation of superficial immiscible alloys could offer new insights into the understanding and design of heterogeneous catalysts.