CuPt dual-atom synergistic catalyst boost carbon-oxygen bonds hydrogenation

Abstract

Bimetallic catalyst with dual-atom pairs has drawn much attention in heterogeneous catalysis due to their unique synergistic effects. In this work, we prepared a series CeO₂ supported Cu-Pt dual sites catalysts and found the optimized one of 2Cu0.025Pt/CeO₂ exhibited excellent performance in the hydrogenation of methyl acetate (MA). Its product yield of ethanol was as 4 times as that of 2Cu/CeO₂ catalyst under the same reaction conditions, with only 0.025 wt% Pt addition. Combined with various characterizations and contrast samples, it is demonstrated that the post-deposited trace Pt species preferentially located besides the copper atoms and formed Cu-Pt atomic pairs. But when further increasing the loading of Pt, the aggregation of Cu happened, leading to a rapid decrease of activity. To reveal the role of Cu-Pt atom pairs in the hydrogenation of carbon–oxygen bonds reactions, we conducted chemisorption experiments and DFT simulations. It is suggested that Cu-Pt atomic pairs significantly enhanced the adsorption and activation capability of both the MA and H₂ molecules during the reaction. These insights may provide synthesis and design strategy for high-performance dual-atom sites catalysts for the carbon–oxygen bonds hydrogenation reactions.