Transition Metal Carbides as Supports for Catalytic Metal Particles: Recent Progress and Opportunities

Transition metal carbides (TMCs) constitute excellent alternatives to traditional oxide-based supports for small metal particles, leading to strong metal-support interactions, which drastically modify the catalytic properties of the supported metal atoms. Moreover, they possess extremely high melting points and good resistance to carbon deposition and sulfur poisoning, and the catalytic activities of some TMCs per se have been shown to be similar to those of Pt-group metals for a considerable number of reactions. Therefore, the use of TMCs as supports can give rise to bifunctional catalysts with multiple active sites. However, at present, only TiC and MoC have been tested experimentally as supports for metal particles, and it is largely unclear which combinations may best catalyze which chemical reactions. In this Perspective, we review the most significant works on the use of TMCs as supports for catalytic applications, assess the current status of the field, and identify key advances being made and challenges, with an eye to the future.