Silica-Encapsulated Intermetallic Nanoparticles for Highly Active and Selective Heterogeneous Catalysis

Abstract

ConspectusIntermetallic nanoparticles (iNPs) have been the subject of many recent reports for their demonstrated applications as highly active and selective heterogeneous catalysts. As a subclass of alloys, intermetallic compounds possess ordered crystal structures and, therefore, well-defined atomic environments, unlike the solid solution of alloys whose atomic arrangements are random and locally unpredictable. Catalytically active iNPs typically contain a group 8–10 transition metals as the “active” metals. They usually also include an “inactive” metal that does not directly participate in the catalytic reaction but can significantly modify the active metal’s behavior. The choice of the inactive metal component can range across the periodic table.A few general challenges remain to design iNPs as heterogeneous catalysts with outstanding performance. Synthetically, the high surface energy of small nanoparticles is prone to their aggregation, while maximizing the surface-to-volume ratios is highly desired for efficient noble metal utilization. Additionally, even though the formation of bulk intermetallic compounds has been extensively studied, the formation of intermetallic phases at the nanoscale can behave differently. For example, the formation temperatures of iNPs are often drastically different from those predicted from the bulk phase diagrams. This behavior often leads to further challenges in the synthesis of iNPs.In addition to synthetic challenges, it is also critical to demonstrate the performance of iNPs in catalysis and establish the structure–property relationships. Instrumental and computational techniques often assist the understanding of catalytic properties. Due to the long-range order of intermetallic structure, various electron and X-ray techniques are often used to precisely determine the structure of iNPs. Structural modeling in density functional theory (DFT) calculation can also benefit from such ordered structures. These techniques have siginificantly improved the understanding of enhanced catalytic properties of iNPs in thermo-, electro-, and photocatalysis. Hydrogenation of furfural to furfuryl alcohol, for example, is a model reaction where PtSn iNPs show enhanced activity and chemoselectivity in hydrogenating C═O rather than C═C bonds. This superior catalytic performance can be correlated to the change in the geometric and electronic surface structure of the PtSn iNPs based on careful instrumental and computational characterizations. Additionally, intermetallic surfaces can be further modified by ligands or defects. While adding complexity to iNP systems, these modifiers provide additional control over their catalytic properties.In this Account, taking encapsulated iNPs in mesoporous silica as an example, we review the current strategies to develop iNPs as high-performance heterogeneous catalysts, with insights on the distinct formation behavior of iNPs compared to bulk intermetallic materials. We then highlight thermo- and electro-catalysis reactions to which these iNP catalysts are applied. We also discuss the unique pairwise hydrogenation reaction with parahydrogen catalyzed by iNPs. In this reaction, iNPs show unparalleled potential. We anticipate that this Account could foster additional interests in studying intermetallic catalysts and lay the foundation for their applications.