Porous bimetallic Pt-Fe nanocatalysts for highly efficient hydrogenation of acetone

Porous Pt-Fe bimetallic nanocrystals have been synthesized via self-assembly and can effectively facilitate the synthesis of 2-propanol from acetone. The bimetallic catalyst has three-dimensional channels and shows turnover frequencies (TOFs) of up to 972 h^-1 for a continuous process more than 50 h. Preliminary mechanistic studies suggest that the high reactivity is related to the interface consisting of a bimetallic Pt-Fe alloy and Fe₂O_3-x. An understanding of real catalytic behavior and the catalytic mechanism based on model systems has been shown to help fabricate an improved Pt/Fe₃O₄ catalyst with increased activity and lifetime which has great potential for large-scale industrial applications.