Selective Dehydrogenation of Ethanol Using Single Atom Alloy Catalysts
AIChE Annual Meeting
2016
2016 AIChE Annual Meeting
Student Poster Sessions
Undergraduate Student Poster Session: Catalysis and Reaction Engineering
Monday, November 14, 2016 - 10:00am to 12:30pm
Small amounts of platinum, palladium, and nickel were added to the surface of Cu/SiO2 nanoparticles to enhance the dehydrogenation activity of copper. Pd and Pt atoms are singly dispersed in Cu, forming single atom alloys (SAAs), whereas Ni atoms are highly dispersed in Cu, forming a highly dilute alloy. Our catalytic measurements show that forming PdCu SAAs does not improve the catalytic performance of copper. PtCu SAAs improve the stability of the copper catalyst, but have little effect on the activity. Interestingly, creating highly dilute alloys of Ni in Cu significantly improves both the activity and stability of the copper catalyst. Further study and characterization of the NiCu highly dilute alloy is underway, as this will help us understand the reaction mechanism and identify the active phase, thus guiding the design of new catalysts that further improve the dehydrogenation reactivity.