Selective formation of acetate intermediate prolongs robust ethylene removal at 0 °C for 15 days.

Efficient ethylene (C 2 H 4 ) removal below room temperatures, especially near 0  °C, is of great importance to suppress that the vegetables and fruits spoil during cold-chain transportation and storage. However, no catalysts have been developed to fulfill the longer-than-2-h C 2 H 4 removal at this low temperature effectively. Here we prepare gold-platinum (Au-Pt) nanoalloy catalysts that show robust C 2 H 4 (of 50 ppm) removal capacity at 0 °C for 15 days (360 h). We find, by virtue of operando Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy and online temperature-programmed desorption equipped mass spectrometry, that the Au-Pt nanoalloys favor the formation of acetate from selective C 2 H 4 oxidation. And this on-site-formed acetate intermediate would partially cover the catalyst surface at 0 °C, thus exposing active sites to prolong the continuous and effective C 2 H 4 removal. We also demonstrate, by heat treatment, that the performance of the used catalysts will be fully recovered for at least two times.