Self-assembly of noble metal monolayers on transition metal carbide nanoparticle catalysts

Sean T Hunt; Maria Milina; Ana C Alba-Rubio; Christopher H Hendon; James A Dumesic; Yuriy Román-Leshkov

doi:10.1126/science.aad8471

Self-assembly of noble metal monolayers on transition metal carbide nanoparticle catalysts

Science. 2016 May 20;352(6288):974-8. doi: 10.1126/science.aad8471.

Authors

Sean T Hunt¹, Maria Milina¹, Ana C Alba-Rubio², Christopher H Hendon¹, James A Dumesic², Yuriy Román-Leshkov¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
² Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.

PMID: 27199426
DOI: 10.1126/science.aad8471

Abstract

We demonstrated the self-assembly of transition metal carbide nanoparticles coated with atomically thin noble metal monolayers by carburizing mixtures of noble metal salts and transition metal oxides encapsulated in removable silica templates. This approach allows for control of the final core-shell architecture, including particle size, monolayer coverage, and heterometallic composition. Carbon-supported Ti(0.1)W(0.9)C nanoparticles coated with Pt or bimetallic PtRu monolayers exhibited enhanced resistance to sintering and CO poisoning, achieving an order of magnitude increase in specific activity over commercial catalysts for methanol electrooxidation after 10,000 cycles. These core-shell materials provide a new direction to reduce the loading, enhance the activity, and increase the stability of noble metal catalysts.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.