Russian Academy of Sciences Researchers Reveal How Platinum-Gold Catalysts Rearrange on Graphene
Scientists at the Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IOC RAS) have discovered how a defect in graphene draws gold into carbon monoxide oxidation in platinum-gold nanocatalysts.
The researchers performed about 12,000 calculations using density functional theory, while machine learning added more than 80,000 data points. A single-vacancy defect in graphene anchors the cluster and alters its electron density, bringing gold into the reaction and lowering the energy barrier by 23%. When carbon monoxide molecules bind to the cluster, platinum atoms move outward, changing the active sites. The findings were published in the journal Small. The research was supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (RSF).
