Fabrication of stable and selective non‐noble metal catalysts for selective alkyne hydrogenation

Abstract

Modification of Ni/Al2O3 catalysts with Sn is appealing for tuning catalyst activity and selectivity for hydrogenation reactions. However, a strong interaction between the Al2O3 and Sn ions can lead to problems when a traditional impregnation strategy is employed. For example, tin aluminate complexes can form and uneven distribution of the metals can occur. In this work, a support coordination induction strategy is developed, in which the use of a rod‐shaped Al2O3 with a high number penta‐coordinated Al3+ surface species prepared from a rotating liquid film reactor was used. The unsaturated Al3+ coordination sites on this support induce the formation of a stable and uniform Ni‐Sn intermetallic phase without the appearance of either monometallic Ni or SnO2 particles. This uniform Ni‐Sn intermetallic phase was then shown to be responsible for enhanced activity, selectivity, and stability for alkyne hydrogenation relative to samples which lacked the same level of Ni‐Sn uniformity.