The growing interest in the use of shape-controlled nanoparticles in catalysis stems from the possibility of obtaining higher surface concentration of active sites as compared to the near-spherical nanoparticles. Monodisperse palladium cubes of ~20 nm rib length and cuboctahedrons of ~3 nm diameter were used as efficient tools to study the mechanisms of selected liquid-phase reactions. For an olefin alcohol hydrogenation in kinetic regime, surface (100) atoms of the cubes displayed lower activity than did other atoms of the spheres, showing the reaction structure sensitivity. In an acetylenic alcohol hydrogenation, the cubes showed higher selectivity to an olefinic product than did the spheres, but the apparent structure sensitivity was attributed to liquid-solid mass transfer limitations governing the sphere-catalyzed reactions. In a Tsuji-Trost reaction, the atomic dissolution mechanism was shown. The studies reveal the applicability and limitations of the use of different nanoparticles to study catalytic reaction mechanisms in liquid phase.

Shape- and size-controlled palladium nanoparticles: Intrinsic and observed catalytic properties in liquid-phase reactions

244th National Meeting (2012)

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