The application of infrared spectroscopy to probe the surface morphology of alumina-supported palladium catalysts

Five alumina-supported palladium catalysts have been prepared from a range of precursor compounds [palladium(II) nitrate, palladium(II) chloride, palladium(II) acetylacetonate, and tetraamminepalladium(II) tetraazidopalladate(II)] and at different metal loadings (1–7.3wt%). Collectively, this series of catalysts provides a range of metal particle sizes (1.2–8.5nm) that emphasize different morphological aspects of the palladium crystallites. The infrared spectra of chemisorbed CO applied under pulse-flow conditions reveal distinct groupings between metal crystallites dominated by low index planes and those that feature predominantly corner/edge atoms. Temperature-programmed infrared spectroscopy establishes that the linear CO band can be resolved into contributions from corner atoms and a combination of (111)∕(111) and (111)∕(100) particle edges. Propene hydrogenation has been used as a preliminary assessment of catalytic performance for the 1wt% loaded catalysts, with the relative inactivity of the catalyst prepared from palladium(II) chloride attributed to a diminished hydrogen supply due to decoration of edge sites by chlorine originating from the preparative process. It is anticipated that refinements linking the vibrational spectrum of a probe molecule with surface structure and accessible adsorption sites for such a versatile catalytic substrate provide a platform against which structure/reactivity relationships can be usefully developed.