Enhanced catalytic performance of Pd-Pt bimetallic alloy nanocatalyst for hydrogenation of nitrile butadiene rubber

Nowadays, the rational design of high-performance catalysts with desirable resistance to metal leaching has become the principal challenge in the hydrogenation of nitrile butadiene rubber. In the present work, the Pd-Pt bimetallic alloy nanocatalyst exhibits an outstanding hydrogenation degree of 99.0%, obviously higher than that of the conventional monometallic Pd/SiO2 catalyst with the same Pd content (92.9%), accompanied by approximately 100% selectivity to C=C bonds. The results reveal that electron transfer from Pt to Pd confirms that the Pd species are in a rich-electron state, which boosts hydrogen activation and improves catalytic activity. Additionally, the incorporation of inactive Pt species promotes the formation of uniformly dispersed Pd-Pt alloy nanoparticles. The incorporation of inactive Pt species can enhance the metal-support interaction, reducing the residual metal content in hydrogenated nitrile butadiene rubber. The current research demonstrates a simple procedure for designing efficient bimetallic catalysts for the hydrogenation of unsaturated elastomer.