Cyclohexene Hydrogenation / Dehydrogenation Over Bimetallic Rhodium-Platinum Nanoparticles

Synthesis of well-defined and monodisperse nanoparticles allows the effect of particle size, shape, and composition upon selectivity to be explored. The nanoparticles made from more than one element usually displays composition-dependent surface segregation behavior, so they are important materials for developing new catalysts with enhanced activity and selectivity. Here, we demonstrate interesting catalytic behaviors of Rh-Pt bimetallic nanoparticles of different compositions and sizes on cyclohexene hydrogenation and dehydrogenation. Upon changing the composition of the Rh-Pt bimetallic nanoparticles, the bimetallic catalysts show a unique behavior in cyclohexene hydrogenation and dehydrogenation. These results are attributed to the surface properties of these bimetallic particles, which demonstrate the great potential of controlling catalytic behavior in bimetallic nanoparticle systems via tuning the composition and size of nanoparticles with potential applications for nanoscale design of industrial catalysts.