Silica supported bimetallic platinum-gold nanoparticle catalysts from dendrimer mediated route

Bimetallic Pt-Au nanoparticles were prepared in solution using PAMAM dendrimers as templates and stabilizers. The resulting nanoparticles were then deposited onto a commercial high surface area silica support. Thermal removal of the dendrimer stabilizer at elevated temperature under different gas environments yielded materials that are active CO oxidation catalysts. The catalysts were characterized with AA spectroscopy, FT-IR spectroscopy, TEM, and EDS. For comparison purposes, three different catalysts, including bimetallic Pt-Au catalyst from co-deposition and mono-metallic Pt and Au were prepared and characterized in the same manner. The characterization data showed that this new preparative route successfully prepares supported bimetallic nanoparticles. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 228th ACS National Meeting (Philadelphia, PA, 8/22-26/2004).