Intermetallic compounds, consisting of two or more metallic/metalloid elements, adopt well-defined crystal structures as well as electronic structures that are different from the constituent elements. The modified electronic structures of intermetallic compounds make them enticing catalytic materials because they will alter the binding energies of surface adsorbates and thus change catalytic properties. Developing catalysts using intermetallic compounds could also benefit from their structural stability arising from highly favorable formation enthalpies. Combined, these two features, unique electronic structure and high stability, potentially circumvent problems with traditional, supported multi-metal/alloy catalysts, such as chemical heterogeneity of particles (which is detrimental to selectivity), broad distributions of active sites, and surface segregation. Considering the availability of intermetallic compounds with different structures (~ 100,000 binaries, ternaries, and quaternaries discovered so far), their catalytic properties are largely unexplored. Here, we will discuss our recent discoveries that the intermetallic NaAu?2 is an active catalyst for CO oxidation at low temperatures. We also found that intermetallic PtSn is a highly selective hydrogenation catalyst.

Well-defined intermetallic nanoparticle catalysts for selective transformations

248th National Meeting (2014)

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