Preparation, structure and catalytic activity of Pt-Pd bimetallic nanoparticles on multi-walled carbon nanotubes

Different amounts of Pd, Pt and Pt-Pd alloy nanoparitcles were deposited on mesoporous carbon nanotube microparticles through an easy polyol reduction method. Pt-Pd bimetallic nanoparticles of varied Pt/Pd molar ratios have alloy structures that are identified by XRD, TEM with EDX and XPS. The activities of five different nanocatalysts were evaluated for the hydrogenation of allyl alcohol, and the alloy nanocatalyst showed superior activity at high Pd loading. More importantly, the synthesized nanocatalysts could be easily recovered completely from the final reaction solution via conventional filtration.