Tailoring Bimetallic Alloy Surface Properties by Kinetic Control of Self-Diffusion Processes at the Nanoscale

Enhanced Performance of Bimetallic Co-Pd Catalysts Prepared by Mechanical Alloying

Bimetallic catalysts can provide enhanced performance, and Co-based catalysts in particular have been studied in various respects for their activity in the deposition of carbon nanofibers (CNFs). The majority of studies on CNF catalysis use co-precipitation to create alloys, but recent work has demonstrated the suitability of mechanical alloying (MA) by ball milling to reduce cost and increase catalytic activity. This work establishes the unique ability of MA to control the microstructure to produce bimetallic composites, which retain distinct metallic phases that improve catalytic activity. It is demonstrated that Co-Pd alloys reach a maximum in catalytic activity at an intermediate time of mechanical activation, where 30 min of milling outperformed samples milled for 5, 15, 60, and 240 min at a reaction temperature of 550 °C and a 1:4 C2H4:H2 reactant ratio. This indicates there is benefit to retaining the metals in distinct phases in close proximity. Ball milling provides a relatively simple and scalable method to achieve these unique microstructures, and in the optimal condition tested here, the activity toward carbon deposition is increased fourfold over prior work. Furthermore, the minimum temperature for deposition is also reduced. The characteristics of these materials, the effects of milling and annealing, and the underlying mechanisms of deposition are discussed.

Reactivity of Carbon Dioxide on Nickel: Role of CO in the Competing Interplay between Oxygen and Graphene

The catalytic conversion of carbon dioxide to synthetic fuels and other valuable chemicals is an issue of global environmental and economic impact. In this report we show by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy in the millibar range that, on a Ni surface, the reduction of carbon dioxide is indirectly governed by the CO chemistry. While the growth of graphene and the carbide-graphene conversion can be controlled by selecting the reaction temperature, oxygen is mainly removed by CO, since oxygen reduction by hydrogen is a slow process on Ni. Even though there is still a consistent pressure gap with respect to industrial reaction conditions, the observed phenomena provide a plausible interpretation of the behavior of Ni/Cu based catalysts for CO2 conversion and account for a possible role of CO in the methanol synthesis process.