Balancing acetylene and hydrogen chloride adsorption through gold-copper-nickel synergistic interactions for enhanced acetylene hydrochlorination

Metal promoters enhancing Au catalysts present a promising alternative to toxic mercury chloride. However, achieving an optimal balance between the synergistic benefits of metal promoters and challenges like coke formation remains a significant hurdle. Herein, a low-loading Au catalyst (0.15 wt.%), synergistically modulated by copper and nickel (designated as AuCu₁₆Ni/AC), was developed. The AuCu₁₆Ni/AC catalyst exhibits a dynamic restructuring mechanism and synergistic effects, enabling balanced adsorption of acetylene (C₂H₂) and hydrogen chloride. This enhances catalytic efficiency, effectively suppresses coke formation, and significantly improves catalyst stability. As a result, the AuCu₁₆Ni/AC catalyst achieves outstanding performance, with a high C₂H₂ conversion rate of 93.03% under C₂H₂ gas hourly space velocity conditions of 540 h⁻¹ and a remarkably low deactivation rate of 0.12% h⁻¹. This work provides a low-loading, highly stable catalyst with promising industrial applicability while offering novel insights and a theoretical basis for the design of multi-component catalysts.