Correlating extent of Pt–Ni bond formation with low-temperature hydrogenation of benzene and 1,3-butadiene over supported Pt/Ni bimetallic catalysts

Low-temperature hydrogenation of benzene and 1,3-butadiene on supported Pt/Ni catalysts have been used as probe reactions to correlate hydrogenation activity with the extent of Pt–Ni bimetallic bond formation. Pt/Ni bimetallic and Pt and Ni monometallic catalysts were supported on γ-Al2O3 using incipient wetness impregnation. Two sets of bimetallic catalysts were synthesized: one set to study the effect of metal atomic ratio and the other to study the effect of impregnation sequence. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) CO adsorption studies were performed to characterize the surface composition of the bimetallic nanoparticles, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was utilized to characterize the particle size distribution. Batch reactor studies with FTIR demonstrated that all bimetallic catalysts outperformed monometallic catalysts for both benzene and 1,3-butadiene hydrogenation. Within the two sets of bimetallic catalysts, it was found that catalysts with a smaller Pt:Ni ratio possessed higher hydrogenation activity and that catalysts synthesized using co-impregnation had greater activity than sequentially impregnated catalysts. Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) measurements were performed in order to verify the extent of Pt–Ni bimetallic bond formation, which was found to correlate with the hydrogenation activity.