Effect of Pd Coordination and Isolation on the Catalytic Reduction of O to HO over PdAu Bimetallic Nanoparticles.

The direct synthesis of hydrogen peroxide (H + O → HO) may enable low-cost HO production and reduce environmental impacts of chemical oxidations. Here, we synthesize a series of PdAu nanoparticles (where 0 ≤ ≤ 220, ∼10 nm) and show that, in pure water solvent, HO selectivity increases with the Au to Pd ratio and approaches 100% for PdAu. Analysis of XAS and FTIR of adsorbed CO and CO show that materials with Au to Pd ratios of ∼40 and greater expose only monomeric Pd species during catalysis and that the average distance between Pd monomers increases with further dilution.