Synergistic effect in bimetallic gold catalysts: recent trends and prospects

Abstract Bimetallic gold (Au) catalysts present an exceptional development trend toward enhancing the catalytic efficiency of the Au based catalysts. The aim of this review is to provide an insight into synergic effect of the bimetallic Au catalysts in enhancing the efficiency of various processes. The review covers some important aspects involving the effect of particle size, composition, metal-support interaction, morphology and the interaction between Au atom and the secondary metal on catalytic properties of the bimetallic Au catalysts. Particularly, the effect of the core–shell and faceted bimetallic Au catalysts morphologies are clearly articulated in the introduction. In the next section, various spectroscopic and microscopic characterization techniques, which often form a basis for the discussion of the synergic effect of the catalysts in enhancing the process efficiency are also discussed. Finally, we provide a summary on the progress made in catalytic exploration of bimetallic Au catalysts focusing in oxidation of hydrocarbons, fuel cell processes, oxidative transformation of the biomass derived products and photocatalysis.