Synthesis of Well Dispersed Supported Metal Catalysts by Strong Electrostatic Adsorption and Electroless Deposition

Enhancing the catalytic performance of heterogeneous catalysts can be done by increasing active site count as well as modification of the physico-chemical characteristics of the catalyst material. For supported metal nanoparticles this can be achieved by decreasing particle size, thus increasing dispersion or metal utilization on the surface of the particles, while modification of metal properties can be attained by addition of a secondary metal that has a strong interaction to the primary metal, beneficial for a given reaction. In addition, the accessibility of the metal surface is necessary for reliable performance of catalysts. For carbon supported catalysts, Temperature Programmed Oxidation has been used to show the presence of decorating carbon on the metal surface, which can be cleaned by oxidative removal of the carbon overlayer.