Impact of organic ligands on the structure and hydrogenation performance of colloidally prepared bimetallic PtSn nanoparticles

The catalytic performance of ligand-capped monometallic Pt and bimetallic PtSn nanoparticles supported on SiO2 toward the selective hydrogenation of acetylene to ethylene in ethylene-rich streams was investigated. To evaluate the effect of organic ligands on the hydrogenation performance, dodecylamine (DDA)-capped monometallic and bimetallic nanoparticles were compared with ligand-free nanoparticles. Both ligands and Sn promote the selectivity of the catalysts. The most selective catalyst was found to be the DDA-capped PtSn catalyst, with a nominal metal atom ratio of 1:1. An increase in Pt content resulted in a decrease in the selectivity, whereas an increase in Sn content caused a decrease in the activity.