Synthesis of gold Monoatomic catalysts supported on metallic nanoparticles for oxidation reactions

Abstract

Production of disperse monoatomic catalysts on the surface of metallic nanoparticles represents a relevant scientific challenge. Concern not only the development of new strategies for their synthesis but also the accomplishment of a reliable morphological description of the resulting materials. Use of advanced analytical electron microscopy techniques along with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) will allow the determination of the physical structure and chemical composition of the metallic nanoparticles decorated with gold atoms that will be produced in this project. Oxidation reaction of benzyl alcohol will be used as a model reaction to follow the catalysts total conversion and selectivity to benzaldehyde, allowing a reliable differentiation between catalyst materials with subtle morphological differences. An objective correlation between nanoparticles structure and catalyst performance will be achieved. The execution of this project will help to establish new standards for the investigation of the structure/performance relationships for heterogeneous catalysts.