Overcoming Limitations in the Strong Interaction between Pt and Irreducible SiO 2 Enables Efficient and Selective Hydrogenation of Anthracene.

Interactions between metals and oxide supports are crucial in determining catalytic activity, selectivity, and stability. For reducible oxide supported noble metals, a strong metal-support interaction (SMSI) has been widely recognized. Herein we report the intermediate selectivity and stability over an irreducible SiO 2 supported Pt catalyst in the hydrogenation of anthracene that are significantly boosted due to the SMSI-induced formation of intermetallic Pt silicide and Pt-SiO 2 interface. The limitation in the strong interaction between Pt nanoparticles and irreducible SiO 2 has been breached by combining the strong electrostatic adsorption method and following the high temperature reduction strategy. Due to the isolated Pt active sites by Si atoms, the activated H species produced over the Pt 2 Si/SiO 2 catalyst with an initial catalytic activity of 2.49 μmol/(m 2 /g)/h as well as TOF of 0.95 s -1 preferentially transfer to the outer ring of anthracene to 87% yield of symmetric octahydroanthracene ( sym -OHA) by subsequent hydrogenation. In addition, the Pt 2 Si/SiO 2 catalyst presents an excellent stability after five cycles, which can be attributed to the fact that intermetallic Pt 2 Si nanoparticles are anchored firmly onto the surface of the SiO 2 support. The discovery contributes to broaden the horizons on the SMSI effect in the irreducible oxide supported metal particle catalysts and provides guidance to design the metal-SiO 2 interface and tune the surface chemical properties in diverse application conditions.