Crystal growth and catalytic properties of AgPt and AuPt bimetallic nanostructures under surfactant effect

Abstract

AgPt and AuPt bimetallic nanostructures offer a highly active catalytic process in acetone hydrogenation reaction to isoproponal. • Sodiumdodecyl sulfate (SDS) promotes anisotropic crystals growth in bimetallic AgPt and AuPt nanostructures. • SDS along with lattice mismatch effects realizes high-energy structure of nanofern in AgPt and large surface area fibrous structure in AuPt. • AgPt and AuPt nanostructures exhibit highly active catalytic properties in acetone hydrogenation reaction. The surface properties of the catalyst, including the surface atom structure and surfactant, determine the charge-transfer process during the catalytic reaction. Here, we present a study on how the surfactants influence the nanocrystal's growth and the catalytic properties of AuPt and AgPt nanoparticles. We found that the surfactant, i.e. sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), promotes anisotropic crystal growth in both AuPt and AgPt due to the disruption of symmetrical crystal growth in these fcc crystal and surface passivation processes. Catalytic acetone hydrogenation reaction analysis in the presence of AuPt and AgPt nanocatalyst indicated that the reaction rate was optimized at mild SDS concentration, i.e. 0.1 M, for both AuPt and AgPt nanocatalysts with their turn over frequency of the reaction reached 3363.2 s −1 and 380.2 s −1 , respectively. The AuPt and AgPt nanocatalyst passivated SDS should find extensive use in catalytic hydrogenation reactions.