Abstract
Understanding of the “structure-activity” relations for catalysts at an atomic level has been regarded as one of the most important objectives in catalysis studies. Bimetallic nanoclusters (NCs) in its many types, such as core/shell, random alloy, cluster-in-cluster, bi-hemisphere, and crown jewel (one kind of atom locating at the top position of another kind of NC), attract significant attention owing to their excellent optical, electronic, and catalytic properties. PVP-protected crown jewel-structured Pt/Au (CJ-Pt/Au) bimetallic nanoclusters (BNCs) with Au atoms located at active top sites were synthesized via a replacement reaction using 1.4-nm Pt NCs as mother clusters even considering the fact that the replacement reaction between Pt and Au3+ ions is difficult to be occurred. The prepared CJ-Pt/Au colloidal catalysts characterized by UV-Vis, TEM, HR-TEM and HAADF-STEM-EELS showed a high catalytic activity for aerobic glucose oxidation, and the top Au atoms decorating the Pt NCs were about 15 times more active than the Au atoms of Au NCs with similar particle size.
Highlights
“Crown-jewel” structured Pt/Au BNCs were prepared via replacement reaction method using Pt NCs with an average diameter of 1.4 nm as mother clusters even though it is well-known that the replacement reaction between Pt and Au3+ ions is difficult to occur
The results of HAADF-STEM and EELS map indicated that at least parts of the Au atoms are located at the top site of the cluster
The catalytic activity for the aerobic glucose oxidation of the prepared CJ-Pt/Au BNCs is as high as 134,700 mol-glucose·h−1·mol-Au−1, which is 15 times higher than that of the monometallic Au NCs, and more than 4 times higher than the PtAu alloy BNCs with nearly the same particle size
Summary
Understanding of the “structure-activity” relations for catalysts at an atomic level has been regarded as one of the most important objectives in catalysis studies. Our. group’s previous results showed that the PVP-protected Pt/Au BNCs of about 1.5 nm in diameter exhibited nearly 10 times higher catalytic activities for aerobic glucose oxidation than that of Au nanoparticles (NPs) with nearly the same particle size[42,43]. Group’s previous results showed that the PVP-protected Pt/Au BNCs of about 1.5 nm in diameter exhibited nearly 10 times higher catalytic activities for aerobic glucose oxidation than that of Au nanoparticles (NPs) with nearly the same particle size[42,43] It is well-accepted that low-coordination atoms in the surface of NCs play a key role in defining the catalysis process[44,45].
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