Revealing Hydrogenation Reaction Pathways on Naked Gold Nanoparticles

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) display distinct characteristics as hydrogenation catalysts, with higher selectivity and lower catalytic activity than group 8–10 metals. The ability of AuNPs to chemisorb/activate simple molecules is limited by the low coordination number of the surface sites. Understanding the distinct pathways involved in the hydrogenation reactions promoted by supported AuNPs is crucial for broadening their potential catalytic applications. In this study, we demonstrate that the mechanism of the hydrogenation reactions catalyzed by AuNPs with “clean” surfaces may proceed via homolytic or heterolytic hydrogen activation depending on the nature of the support. The synthesis of naked AuNPs employing γ-Al2O3 and ionic liquid (IL)-hybrid γ-Al2O3 supports was accomplished by sputtering deposition using ultrapure gold foils. This highly reproducible and straightforward procedure furnishes small (∼6.6 nm) and well-distributed metallic gold nanoparticles (Au(0)NPs) that are found to be active catalys...