Thermal chemistry of oxide-supported platinum catalysts: A comparative study

Reactive Deposition Versus Strong Electrostatic Adsorption (SEA): A Key to Highly Active Single Atom Co-Catalysts in Photocatalytic H2 Generation

In recent years, the use of single atoms (SAs) has become of a rapidly increasing significance in photocatalytic H2 generation; here SA noble metals (mainly Pt SAs) can act as highly effective co-catalysts. The classic strategy to decorate oxide semiconductor surfaces with maximally dispersed SAs relies on "strong electrostatic adsorption" (SEA) of suitable noble metal complexes. In the case of TiO2 - the classic benchmark photocatalyst - SEA calls for adsorption of cationic Pt complexes such as [(NH3 )4 Pt]2+ which then are thermally reacted to surface-bound SAs. While SEA is widely used in literature, in the present work it is shown by a direct comparison that reactive attachment based on the reductive anchoring of SAs, e.g., from hexachloroplatinic(IV) acid (H2 PtCl6 ) leads directly to SAs in a configuration with a significantly higher specific activity than SAs deposited with SEA - and this at a significantly lower Pt loading and without any thermal post-deposition treatments. Overall, the work demonstrates that the reactive deposition strategy is superior to the classic SEA concept as it provides a direct electronically well-connected SA-anchoring and thus leads to highly active single-atom sites in photocatalysis.

PtOx Cly (OH)z (H2 O)n Complexes under Oxidative and Reductive Conditions: Impact of the Level of Theory on Thermodynamic Stabilities

Platinum-based catalysts with Cl^- , OH^- , O^2- and H₂ O ligands, are involved in many industrial processes. Their final chemical properties are impacted by calcination and reduction applied during the preparation and activation steps. We investigate their stability under these reactive conditions with density functional theory (DFT). We benchmark various functionals (PBE-dDsC, optPBE, B3LYP, HSE06, PBE0, TPSS, RTPSS and SCAN) against ACFDT-RPA. PBE-dDsC is well adapted, although hybrid functionals are more accurate for redox reactions. Thermodynamic phase diagrams are determined by computing the chemical potential of the species as a function of temperature and partial pressures of H₂ O, HCl, O₂ and H₂ . The stability and nature of the Pt species are highly sensitive to the activation conditions. Under O₂ , high temperatures favour PtO₂ while under H₂ , platinum is easily reduced to Pt(0). Chlorine modifies the coordination sphere of platinum during calcination by stabilizing PtCl₄ and shifts the reduction of platinum to higher temperatures under H₂ .

Transformations of γ-alumina in aqueous suspensions

Hydration of gamma-Al2O3 is often reported to occur via the superficial transformation of the alumina surface into aluminum hydroxide-like layers. However, very little evidence has been given so far to support this hypothesis. It is demonstrated here by X-ray diffraction, TEM, electron diffraction, and solubility studies that a second process of hydration takes place that involves the dissolution of alumina and subsequent precipitation of well-shaped Al(OH)3 particles from supersaturated alumina aqueous solution. This process can be observed on a macroscopic scale (XRD, TEM) for any pH5, provided that the contact time between alumina and water exceeds 10 h. The least thermodynamically stable phase of aluminum hydroxide, bayerite, becomes favored compared with gibbsite when the pH of the solution is increased. It is assumed that the rate of formation of bayerite germs is greater than that of gibbsite due to variations in aluminum speciation in solution as a function of pH.