Same size, same support, same spectator? Selective acetylene hydrogenation on supported Pd nanoparticles.

The selective hydrogenation of acetylene catalyzed by Pd nanoparticles is industrially used to increase the purity of ethylene. Despite the implementation of Pd based catalysts on an industrial scale, little is known about metal-support interactions on a fundamental level due to the complexity of these systems. In this study, the influence of metal-support interactions between Pd nanoparticles and two electronically modified a-SiO thin films on acetylene hydrogenation is investigated under ultra-high vacuum (UHV) conditions.