Reversible restructuring of supported Au nanoparticles during butadiene hydrogenation revealed by operando GISAXS/GIWAXS

• DOI: 10.1039/c7cc01887h
• Publication Date: 2017-04-24T09:54:52Z
• Authors: David James Martin; Donato Decarolis; Yaroslav I. Odarc...; Jennifer J. Herbert; Thomas Arnold; Jonathan Rawle; Chris Nicklin; Hans-Gerd Boyen; Andrew M. Beale
• Keywords: Dispersity; Grazing-incidence small-angle scattering; Small-angle X-ray scattering; Particle (ecology)

Periodically arranged, monodisperse gold nanoparticles supported on flat silicon substrates were studied for the hydrogenation of 1,3-butadiene under operando conditions using Grazing Incidence Small- and Wide-Angle X-ray Scattering (GISAXS/GIWAXS). It was found that composition shape depends very much chemical environment; particles are shown to be dynamic, undergoing reversible size change particularly during catalytic reaction, highlighting a dynamism often not observed in traditional studies. Specifically, Au increases butadiene this is attributed partial removal Au2O3 at metal-oxide interface consequential nanoparticle from more hemispherical particle with larger height width ratio.