Mechanism driven design of trimer Ni1Sb2 site delivering superior hydrogenation selectivity to ethylene

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 13; no. 1; p. 5534
• Main Authors: Ge, Xiaohu, Dou, Mingying, Cao, Yueqiang, Liu, Xi, Yuwen, Qiang, Zhang, Jing, Qian, Gang, Gong, Xueqing, Zhou, Xinggui, Chen, Liwei, Yuan, Weikang, Duan, Xuezhi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 21-09-2022; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 119/118; 140/146; 147/137; 147/143; 639/166/898; 639/638/77/885; 639/638/77/887; Acetylene; Adsorption; Catalysis; Catalysts; Design; Ethylene; Humanities and Social Sciences; Hydrogenation; multidisciplinary; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Selectivity; Trimers
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33250-8

Mechanism driven catalyst design with atomically uniform ensemble sites is an important yet challenging issue in heterogeneous catalysis associated with breaking the activity-selectivity trade-off. Herein, a trimer Ni
1
Sb
2
site in NiSb intermetallic featuring superior selectivity is elaborated for acetylene semi-hydrogenation via a theoretical guidance with a precise synthesis strategy. The trimer Ni
1
Sb
2
site in NiSb intermetallic is predicted to endow acetylene reactant with an adequately but not excessively strong σ-adsorption mode while ethylene product with a weak π-adsorption one, where such compromise delivers higher ethylene formation rate. An in-situ trapping of molten Sb by Ni strategy is developed to realize the construction of Ni
1
Sb
2
site in the intermetallic
P6
3
/mmc
NiSb catalysts. Such catalyst exhibits ethylene selectivity up to 93.2% at 100% of acetylene conversion, significantly prevailing over the referred Ni catalyst. These insights shed new lights on rational catalyst design by taming active sites to energetically match targeted reaction pathway.
Designing atomically uniform ensemble sites for matching targeted reaction pathway is important yet challenging in heterogeneous catalysis. Here, the authors fabricate a trimer Ni
1
Sb
2
site featuring superior selectivity for acetylene semi-hydrogenation via a mechanism-driven design strategy.