A method to determine the fraction of active surface atoms for two catalytically active metals in a bimetallic nano-particle catalyst is described.  The structure of the bimetallic PtPd/SiO2 catalyst was characterized by EXAFS and TEM.  Changes in the L3 edge XANES upon CO adsorption combined with the ratio of linear to bridging CO by IR are used as an indicator to quantify the surface composition.  The surface composition was used to evaluate the effect of PtPd alloy formation for neopentane hydrogenolysis.   From the fractional coverage of Pt and Pd, the TOR of Pt and Pd in bimetallic catalysts is similar to that in monometallic catalysts.  The selectivity of the two metals is higher than that of both metals and for Pd the isomerization selectivity is significantly improved compared to Pd only.

Understanding the electronic and surface structure in bimetallic nanoparticle catalysts

244th National Meeting (2012)

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