Sub-3 nm Intermetallic Ordered PtIn Clusters for Oxygen Reduction Reaction.

Industrial applications of Pt-based oxygen-reduction-reaction (ORR) catalysts are limited by high cost and low stability. Here, facile large-scale synthesis of sub-3-nm ordered PtIn clusters on commercial carbon black as ORR catalyst that alleviates both these shortcomings is reported. As-prepared PtIn/C exhibits a mass activity of 0.

Functionalised heterogeneous catalysts for sustainable biomass valorisation.

Efficient transformation of biomass to value-added chemicals and high-energy density fuels is pivotal for a more sustainable economy and carbon-neutral society. In this framework, developing potential cascade chemical processes using functionalised heterogeneous catalysts is essential because of their versatile roles towards viable biomass valorisation. Advances in materials science and catalysis have provided several innovative strategies for the design of new appealing catalytic materials with well-defined structures and special characteristics.

Fully dispersed Pt entities on nano-Au dramatically enhance the activity of gold for chemoselective hydrogenation catalysis.

Adding a small amount of fully dispersed Pt entities onto the Au surface in Au/SiO(2) catalyst is found to be an efficient approach to improve the catalytic activity of Au (up to 70-fold) for the hydrogenation of α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds, without alternating its selectivity towards C=O or C=C bond hydrogenation.