Steam-created grain boundaries for methane C–H activation in palladium catalysts

Going with the grain Changes in surface structure can make metal nanoparticles supported on oxides more active for certain catalytic reactions. Huang et al . show that steam pretreatment of palladium nanoparticles on alumina led to a high density of twin boundaries, unlike other oxidation and reduction pretreatments. The density of these stable grain boundaries at the surface correlated with higher methane oxidation rates and lower temperatures for the initiation of the reaction. The introduction of additional defect sites through laser ablation created even more active catalysts. —PDS