School of Chemistry, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, Private Bag X54001, Durban 4000, South Africa Email: ‡[email protected]; *[email protected] Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) possess unique properties which make them competitive with conventional catalyst supports. This short review collates fi ndings from many research groups on the benefi ts of palladium/carbon nanotubes in hydrogenat...

The effect of composition and morphology of bimetallic Pd-Au nanoclusters on their chemical reactivity has been studied with acetylene decomposition and conversion to ethylene and benzene as the chemical probe. High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) and CO-Temperature Programmed Desorption (TPD) measurements were employed for structure and chemical composition determination. ...

The transesterification of uridine 3'-phosphodiesters with a wide range of leaving group alcohols has been studied in the presence of monometallic and bimetallic complexes. The catalysis of isomerization of the phosphodiester bond was studied with a nucleoside 3'-phosphonate as a substrate. The results obtained are consistent with a step-wise mechanism, where metal ions are able to enhance both...

The liquid phase oxidation of glycerol with oxygen has been studied using mono and bimetallic catalysts based on Au and Pd metals supported on activated carbon, in order to study the effect of the metal on the distribution of the products and on activity of catalysts. It was found that by using bimetallic catalysts (Au–Pd) a strong synergistic effect was shown. By using a preformed nucleating c...

Large-scale energy storage and the utilization of biomass as a sustainable carbon source are global challenges of this century. The reversible storage of hydrogen covalently bound in chemical compounds is a particularly promising energy storage technology. For this, compounds that can be sustainably synthesized and that permit high-weight% hydrogen storage would be highly desirable. Herein, we ...

The effect of impregnation sequence on the formation of Pt/Ni bimetallic nanoparticles supported on g-Al2O3 was investigated for catalysts with Pt/Ni atomic ratios of 3/1 and 1/1. These bimetallic catalysts were prepared with a fixed Pt loading (5 wt.%) by incipient impregnation of one metal precursor and calcination, followed by the impregnation of the second metal precursor and a second calci...

Applications of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEM-FCs) require a continued search for an optimal catalyst with attributes of high activity, durability, low cost, and resistance to negative effects of impurities in the fuel. Platinum-based bimetallic catalyst systems are widely utilized in PEM-FCs because of their good performance in both the cathode and the anode. Alloying with inexp...

Inspired by previous studies on model systems, a series of silica-supported Au–Ni catalysts were prepared and tested for the conversion of propane in the presence of hydrogen. The Au–Ni/SiO2 catalysts were prepared by successive impregnation, i.e. Ni was deposited first followed by Au. TEM/EDX results confirmed the presence of bimetallic Au–Ni nanoparticles. The dehydrogenation of propane to pr...

Bimetallic Au-based nanoparticles (Au-M where M = Pt, Pd, Cu, Ni), synthesized by simultaneous reduction of the Au salt with noble/non-noble metal salts, exhibit a high activity for the aminoalkene (2,2-diphenylpent-4-en-1-amine) hydroamination affording the 5-membered Markovnikov product. Even though the particle size and morphology of Au-M nanoparticles are comparable to the corresponding mon...