Methylcyclohexane (MCH)-toluene (TOL) chemical hydride cycles as hydrogen carrier systems are successful with the selective dehydrogenation of MCH to TOL, which has been achieved only using precious Pt-based catalysts. Herein, we report improved selectivity using non-precious metal nickel-based bimetallic catalysts, where the second metal occupies the unselective step sites.

Alloying Pd with Cu is important for catalytic reactions such as denitrification reaction and CO oxidation reaction, but understanding of the catalyst preparation and its correlation with the catalyst’s activity and selectivity remains elusive. Herein, we report the results of investigations of the preparation of PdCu alloy nanocatalysts using different methods and the catalytic properties of t...

A series of custom-designed, high yield, isoskeletal tetranuclear Zn/4f coordination clusters showing high efficiency as catalysts with low catalytic loadings in Friedel-Crafts alkylation are described for the first time. The possibility of altering the 4f centers in these catalysts without altering the core topology allows us to further confirm their stability via EPR and NMR, as well to gain ...

Highly active and stable bimetallic Au-Pd catalysts have been extensively studied for several liquid-phase oxidation reactions in recent years, but there are far fewer reports on the use of these catalysts for low-temperature gas-phase reactions. Here we initially established the presence of a synergistic effect in a range of bimetallic Au-Pd/CeZrO4 catalysts, by measuring their activity for se...

Aiming at the investigation of spillover and transport effects in electrocatalytic reactions on bimetallic catalyst electrodes, we have prepared novel, nanostructured electrodes consisting of arrays of homogeneously distributed pairs of Pt and Ru nanodisks of uniform size and with controlled separation on planar glassy carbon substrates. The nanodisk arrays (disk diameter ≈ 60 nm) were fabricat...

Single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are usually produced with the help of metal catalysts that first break down various carbon species such as graphite, carbon clusters, amorphous carbon, or hydrocarbons and then release them in the form of SWNTs. These catalysts therefore must perform several functions in order to produce high quality, high yield, long SWNTs, and the finesse of these catalyst...

We report on the correlation between the nanocrystal and surface alloy properties with the bimetallic composition of gold-platinum(AuPt) nanoparticles. The fundamental understanding of whether the AuPt nanocrystal core is alloyed or phasesegregated and how the surface binding properties are correlated with the nanoscale bimetallic properties is important not only for the exploitation of catalyt...

A catalytic site typically consists of one or more atoms of a catalyst surface that arrange into a configuration offering a specific electronic structure for adsorbing or dissociating reactant molecules. The catalytic activity of adjacent bimetallic sites of metallic nanoparticles has been studied previously. An isolated bimetallic site supported on a non-metallic surface could exhibit a distin...

The design of porous bimetallic nanocrystals (NCs) is very important for electrochemical energy conversion. Herein, we report an aqueous solution method for one-step fabrication of porous PtCu NCs assembled by spatially interconnected arms in high yield by a simple ultrasonic treatment of the reaction mixture at room temperature. The proposed method, without the need for multi-step synthesis, h...

We show that bimetallic nanoparticles (NPs) of AuPt without any surface modification are potent antibiotic reagents, while pure Au NPs or pure Pt NPs display no antibiotic activities. The most potent antibacterial AuPt NPs happen to be the most effective catalysts for chemical transformations. The mechanism of antibiotic action includes the dissipation of membrane potential and the elevation of...