Journal
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
Volume 7, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms10389
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Funding
- European Research Council (ERC) [246645-ASC3]
- DFG [HE3454/23-1]
- Air Force Office for Scientific Research (AFOSR)
- Office of Basic Energy Sciences of the US Department of energy (DOE) [FG05-86ER45234]
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The sensitivity, or insensitivity, of catalysed reactions to catalyst structure is a commonly employed fundamental concept. Here we report on the nature of nano-catalysed ethylene hydrogenation, investigated through experiments on size-selected Pt-n (n = 8-15) clusters soft-landed on magnesia and first-principles simulations, yielding benchmark information about the validity of structure sensitivity/insensitivity at the bottom of the catalyst size range. Both ethylene-hydrogenation-to-ethane and the parallel hydrogenation-dehydrogenation ethylidyne-producing route are considered, uncovering that at the <1 nm size-scale the reaction exhibits characteristics consistent with structure sensitivity, in contrast to structure insensitivity found for larger particles. The onset of catalysed hydrogenation occurs for Pt-n (n >= 10) clusters at T>150 K, with maximum room temperature reactivity observed for Pt-13. Structure insensitivity, inherent for specific cluster sizes, is induced in the more active Pt13 by a temperature increase up to 400 K leading to ethylidyne formation. Control of sub-nanometre particle size may be used for tuning catalysed hydrogenation activity and selectivity.
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