Hydrogen Migration at Restructuring Palladium–Silver Oxide Boundaries Dramatically Enhances Reduction Rate of Silver Oxide

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• Open Access
• Published: 15 April 2020

Hydrogen migration at restructuring palladium–silver oxide boundaries dramatically enhances reduction rate of silver oxide

• Christopher R. O’Connor, 
• Matthijs A. van Spronsen, 
• Tobias Egle, 
• Fang Xu, 
• Heath R. Kersell, 
• Judit Oliver-Meseguer, 
• Mustafa Karatok, 
• Miquel Salmeron, 
• Robert J. Madix & 
• Cynthia M. Friend 

Nature Communications volume 11, Article number: 1844 (2020) Cite this article

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Abstract

Heterogeneous catalysts are complex materials with multiple interfaces. A critical proposition in exploiting bifunctionality in alloy catalysts is to achieve surface migration across interfaces separating functionally dissimilar regions. Herein, we demonstrate the enhancement of more than 10⁴ in the rate of molecular hydrogen reduction of a silver surface oxide in the presence of palladium oxide compared to pure silver oxide resulting from the transfer of atomic hydrogen from palladium oxide islands onto the surrounding surface formed from oxidation of a palladium–silver alloy. The palladium–silver interface also dynamically restructures during reduction, resulting in silver–palladium intermixing. This study clearly demonstrates the migration of reaction intermediates and catalyst material across surface interfacial boundaries in alloys with a significant effect on surface reactivity, having broad implications for the catalytic function of bimetallic materials.

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