Photo-thermo semi-hydrogenation of acetylene on Pd1/TiO2 single-atom catalyst
Yalin Guo, Yike Huang, Bin Zeng, Bing Han, Mohcin Akri, Ming Shi, Yue Zhao, Qinghe Li, Yang Su, Lin Li, Qike Jiang, Yi‐Tao Cui, Lei Li, Rengui Li, Botao Qiao, Tao Zhang
Abstract
Abstract Semi-hydrogenation of acetylene in excess ethylene is a key industrial process for ethylene purification. Supported Pd catalysts have attracted most attention due to their superior intrinsic activity but often suffer from low selectivity. Pd single-atom catalysts (SACs) are promising to significantly improve the selectivity, but the activity needs to be improved and the feasible preparation of Pd SACs remains a grand challenge. Here, we report a simple strategy to construct Pd 1 /TiO 2 SACs by selectively encapsulating the co-existed small amount of Pd nanoclusters/nanoparticles based on their different strong metal-support interaction (SMSI) occurrence conditions. In addition, photo-thermo catalysis has been applied to this process where a much-improved catalytic activity was obtained. Detailed characterization combined with DFT calculation suggests that photo-induced electrons transferred from TiO 2 to the adjacent Pd atoms facilitate the activation of acetylene. This work offers an opportunity to develop highly stable Pd SACs for efficient catalytic semi-hydrogenation process.