Synthesis of Platinum–Rare-earth Sub-Nanoclusters via an aluminum vacancy trapping strategy

Synthesizing homogeneous supported bimetallic sub-nanoclusters (with a diameter below 1 nm) that exhibit excellent stability and resistance to sintering at elevated temperatures remains a significant challenge. Herein we report on the synthesis of 14 combinations of platinum with rare earth metal (PtxLn/Al2O3) via an innovative aluminum (Al) vacancy trapping route, resulting in a particle size of approximately 0.4 nm. The salts containing Pt and Ln (Ln denotes rare earth metals) were selected to adsorb on the Al vacancies. When tested in propane dehydrogenation at 580 °C, the supported bimetallic sub-nanoclusters (PtxLn/Al2O3) demonstrated a significant improvement in catalytic performance, with an increase of 2∼7 times compared to Pt-rare earth metal nanoparticle catalysts of similar nature. These sub-nanoclusters exhibited exceptional stability and resistance to carbon deposition.