Hydroxide‐Membrane‐Coated Pt3Ni Nanowires as Highly Efficient Catalysts for Selective Hydrogenation Reaction

Abstract Rational design of effective catalysts with both high activity and selectivity is highly significant and desirable for hydrogenation reaction. In this paper, for the first time an efficient approach to controllably construct 1D metal nanowires (NWs) coated with hydroxide (Ni x M(OH) 2 (M = Mn, Fe, Co, Cu, and Al)) membranes as highly active and selective hydrogenation catalysts is reported. The optimized Ni 32 Cu(OH) 2 membrane coated Pt 3 Ni nanowires show much enhanced selectivity of 87.9% for the hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde to hydrocinnamaldehyde instead of hydrocinnamyl alcohol, in contrast with the pristine Pt 3 Ni nanowires and Pt 3 Ni nanowires on Ni(OH) 2 membranes. The enhanced selectivity of Pt 3 Ni@Ni 32 Cu(OH) 2 ‐2 NWs is ascribed to confinement/poisoning effects of the coated Ni 32 Cu(OH) 2 membranes as well as the intimate interaction between the Pt 3 Ni NWs and Ni 32 Cu(OH) 2 membranes, as confirmed by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The coated structures also show good stability after five recycle runs. The present work highlights the importance of surface engineering for the design of multicomponent composites with desirable activity and selectivity toward hydrogenation reaction and beyond.