Amorphous monolayer CuPd catalysts for selective semihydrogenation

The unique structural configuration of amorphous nanomaterials, characterized by their disordered atomic arrangements, highly exposed active sites, and isotropic homogeneity, enables exceptional catalytic performance that bridges the gap between homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis. In this work, an amorphous CuPd catalyst was fabricated through incorporating Cu ions into the disordered Pd lattice, creating an amorphous monolayer architecture with engineered hydrogen transport pathways. The precisely modulated atomic/electronic configuration optimizes the adsorption configuration and bonding strength between substrate/intermediates and catalysts surfaces. The amorphous catalyst achieves 96.2% selectivity at 99.1% conversion under mild conditions, with a time of flight of 6004 hour^-1. These results demonstrate that amorphous architectures, with their disordered atomic arrangements, uniformly distributed active sites, and tunable adsorption energetics, establish a generalized design framework for high-performance catalysts, achieving superior selectivity and activity compared to crystalline systems.