Hydrogenation of Acetylene over Pd–Ag/Sibunit Catalysts: Effect of the Deposition Sequence of Active Component Precursors

The study investigates interactions between palladium and silver in Pd–Ag bimetallic catalysts supported on a mesoporous carbon material Sibunit and, in particular, the dependence of these interactions on the deposition sequence of the metal precursors. Using XRD and TEM results, it was shown that impregnating the support with an aqueous solution that contained nitrate salts of both metals, followed by hydrogen treatment at 500°C, generates uniformly sized Pd_0.6Ag_0.4 particles (d_av = 5.6 nm). These particles exhibit high selectivity (79%) in the reaction of acetylene hydrogenation to ethylene. The catalysts synthesized by sequential impregnation of the support with solutions of Pd and Ag nitrates interleaved with heat treatment in H₂ exhibited a lower selectivity (68–73%) due to the formation of particles non-uniform both in composition and size (about 4 to 60 nm). The IR spectroscopy data suggest this effect is presumably associated with the removal of O-containing functional groups from the carbon surface during the reduction of the supported precursor. Given that O-groups act as anchoring sites for the precursors of active components and suppress the ability of Sibunit to reduce metals from their salt solutions, the subsequent deposition of the second metal salt causes a non-uniform distribution of this metal on the surface and the generation of larger particles.