Identifying of the optimal active sites on supported metal catalysts often focuses on engineering the composition or geometry of the metal site to maximize the reaction rate or control the reaction selectivity. Much less is known about how metal-support interactions can be exploited to control the reactivity of heterogeneous metal-oxide supported metal catalysts, although the support characteristics can influence catalytic reactivity or selectivity as considerably as the characteristics of the metal. In this talk I will highlight recent work where we demonstrated that metal-support interactions could be used to promote reaction rates, control reaction selectivity, and influence the structure/stability of bimetallic nanoparticles. This will be presented in the context of ethanol dehydrogenation to acetaldehyde and hydrodeoxygenation of biomass derived oxygenates. Evidence for the role of supports in controlling catalysis by supported metal nanoparticles is provided by a combination of catalyst synthesis, kinetic measurements, spectroscopy and microscopy. This work provides important mechanistic insights that have to potential enable the design of more effective heterogeneous catalyst through tuning of metal-support interactions

Importance of the oxide support in metal catalyzed reactions of biomass derived species

ACS Spring 2022

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