Enhancing activity, selectivity and stability of palladium catalysts in formic acid decomposition: Effect of support functionalization

In this work, palladium nanoparticles were deposited on oxygen and phosphorous functionalised carbon nanofibers (CNFs) by sol immobilisation method in order to investigate the support-metal effect formic acid (FA) decomposition reaction. establish presence of functional groups support their Pd nanoparticles, obtained samples then, characterised Transmission Electron Microscopy (HR-TEM, STEM-HAADF STEM-EDS) X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). FA catalytic performance, stability selectivity catalysts evaluated liquid-phase at mild reaction conditions. The metal-support interaction reactivity was demonstrated leading superior properties both materials. Density theory (DFT) simulations provided further insights Pd15 cluster with different surfaces, i.e. pristine graphene (PG), carboxyl doped (G_COOH), hydroxyl (G_OH), carbonyl (G_CO) phosphate (G_PO3H). cluster-support strength follows trend Pd/G_CO > Pd/G_COOH Pd/G_OH Pd/G_PO3H Pd/PG, confirming increased 1 wt% [email protected] observed experimental results.