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Control of metal-support interactions in heterogeneous catalysts to enhance activity and selectivity

Nature Catalysis volume 2, pages 955–970 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

Metal nanoparticles stabilized on a support material catalyse many major industrial reactions. Metal-support interactions in these nanomaterials can have a substantial influence on the catalysis, making metal-support interaction modulation one of the few tools able to enhance catalytic performance. This topic has received much attention in recent years, however, a systematic rationalization of the field is lacking due to the great diversity in catalysts, reactions and modification strategies. In this review, we cover and categorize the recent progress in metal-support interaction tuning strategies to enhance catalytic performance for various reactions. Furthermore, we quantify the productivity enhancements resulting from metal-support interaction control that have been achieved in C1 chemistry in recent years. Our analysis shows that up to fifteen-fold productivity enhancement has been achieved, and that metal-support interaction is most impactful for metal nanoparticles smaller than four nanometres. These findings demonstrate the importance of metal-support interaction to improve performance in catalysis.

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Fig. 1: Schematic representation of main metal-support interactions and their tuning strategies.
Fig. 2: MSI tuning strategies involving modification of the support composition and morphology.
Fig. 3: MSI tuning strategies based on doping and surface modification of the support.
Fig. 4: MSI tuning strategies involving alterations to the metal nanoparticle size or composition.
Fig. 5: MSI tuning strategies involving treatments of supported metal catalysts based on temperature, reducing agent or reduction-oxidation cycles.
Fig. 6: MSI tuning strategies involving overlayer deposition and adsorbate-mediated treatments of supported metal catalysts.
Fig. 7: Enhancement of catalytic performance in C1 chemistry achieved through control of MSI in recent years.

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Acknowledgements

Shell Global Solutions, the Netherlands Association for Scientific Research and Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineração are thanked for financial support. K.P.d.J. acknowledges support from the European Research Council, EU FP7 ERC Advanced Grant no. 338846.

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Tom W. van Deelen, Carlos H. Mejía.

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  1. Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis, Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Tom W. van Deelen, Carlos Hernández Mejía & Krijn P. de Jong

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T.W.v.D. and C.H.M. contributed equally. All authors were involved in literature survey, structuring and analysis of the data and writing of the manuscript.

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van Deelen, T.W., Hernández Mejía, C. & de Jong, K.P. Control of metal-support interactions in heterogeneous catalysts to enhance activity and selectivity. Nat Catal 2, 955–970 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-019-0364-x

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