Preparation and investigation of Pd doped Cu catalysts for selective hydrogenation of acetylene

Abstract

A series of PdCu bimetallic catalysts with low Cu and Pd loadings and different Cu: Pd atomic ratios were prepared by conventionally sequential impregnation (CSI) and modified sequential impregnation (MSI) of Cu and Pd for selective hydrogenation of acetylene. Characterization indicates that the supported copper (II) nitrate in the PdCu bimetallic catalysts prepared by MSI can be directly reduced to Cu metal particles due to the hydrogen spillover from Pd to Cu(NO₃)₂ crystals. In addition, for the catalysts prepared by MSI, Pd atoms can form PdCu alloy on the surface of metal particles, however, for the catalysts prepared by CSI, Pd tends to migrate and exist below the surface layer of Cu. Reaction results indicate that compared with CSI, the MSI method enables samples to possess preferable stability as well as comparable reaction activity. This should be due to the MSI method in favor of the formation of PdCu alloy on the surface of metal particles. Moreover, even Pd loading is super low, <0.045 wt-% in this study, by through adjusting Cu loading to an appropriate value, attractive reactivity and selectivity still can be achieved.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

copper / palladium / catalysts / acetylene / selective hydrogenation

References

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Acknowledgments

The financial support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 1263094), Welch Foundation (No. T-0014), Key Scientific and Technological Project of Henan province, China (No. 182102410072) and Shanxi International Cooperation Project (No. 201703D421037) are acknowledged. A portion of this research was conducted at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility.

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