文摘
H2IrCl6 was impregnated on three types of materials: (i) anatase TiO2 nanoparticles, (ii) anatase TiO2 nanotubes and as a comparison, (iii) alumina Al2O3, with a view to reveal the effect of the support on Ir nanoparticles size, dispersion, morphologies, metal support interaction (MSI), and eventually on the catalytic activity in the hydrogenation of cyclohexene (CHE) at 273–303 K. Particularly, we focused on TiO2 nanotubes as being scarcely examined as supports of Ir particles. Highly dispersed 1.3 nm half truncated cuboctahedral particles and full 1.4 nm cuboctahedral Ir nanoparticles on TiO2 nanoparticles and TiO2 nanotubes, respectively, were revealed by transmission electron microscopy and molecular modeling. These two, morphologically different TiO2 supports show different MSI to Ir nanoparticles, affecting their metallic character and catalytic performance during CHE hydrogenation. At 273 K, complete cuboctahedral Ir particles (on TiO2 nanotubes) showed a TOF of 4.7 s−1 which was slightly more active than truncated ones (on TiO2 nanoparticles and Al2O3) showing a TOF of 3.2–3.7 s−1. Iridium truncated nanoparticles were probably not completely reduced to Ir0 and exhibited poor metallic character due to an electronic screening at the metal support interaction, which explain the different TOF in CHE hydrogenation. Keywords Iridium nanoparticles TiO2 nanotube Anatase Cyclohexene hydrogenation/dehydrogenation Metal support interaction