Light elements make a difference in noble metal catalysisNoble metals have been widely used as heter

Light elements make a difference in noble metal catalysisNoble metals have been widely used as heterogeneous catalysts because they easily stand out with high activity and selectivity for many reactions of both scientific and industrial interest. At least a century ago, some light alloying elements with small atomic radii were known to easily permeate into the interstitial location of a metal lattice. The catalytic performance of noble metals has also been found to be highly sensitive to a low amount of light elements (e.g., H, C and B) in some cases. These catalysts show some uniqueness as compared with traditional metal-metal alloy catalysts, which brings about novel effects in geometric and electronic modifications of noble metals for optimization of catalytic properties. Compared with the modification of noble metal catalysts with transition metals, alloying noble metal catalysts with light element atoms has received relatively little attention in earlier studies. The significant roadblocks to  studying light element–implanted noble metal catalysts include the difficulty of accurately controlling and directly observing light alloying elements because of their small atomic size, low concentration, and non-uniform distribution, which limits the ability to establish direct structure-activity relationships. In the last twenty years, considerable progress has been made in rational design of light atoms in noble metals for modulating the catalytic activity. The rapid process of advanced characterization methods provides powerful tools for directly observing the light atom positions and deeply understanding their structural modifications to the parent metals. In addition, the development of computational chemistry makes it possible to rapidly identify novel catalysts and reveal the roles of interstitial light elements in promoting catalytic abilities.Read more. -- source link

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