Construction of Au-Pd alloy shells for enhanced catalytic performance toward alkyne semihydrogenation reactions

This communication reports an efficient bimetallic catalyst by incorporating Au atoms onto the surface of palladium nanocrystals via a simple solution phase surface alloying process. While retaining the original surface structure of Pd, the surface alloy catalyst shows the highest activity and the best selectivity toward alkyne semi-hydrogenation reactions in comparison to commercial Pd/C and Lindlar catalysts. This simple surface alloying process could be easily extended to the optimization of commercial Pd/C catalysts to significantly improve their catalytic performance. The surface modification approach proposed in this work not only provides a new direction in engineering efficient metal nanocatalysts for fine chemical industries, but also improves our understanding of bimetallic nanocrystal surfaces.