Bimetallic Catalysts in Acetylene Semi-Hydrogenation: Conceptual Advances and Challenges

The hydrogenation of acetylene to ethylene is of great industrial interest. Achieving both high selectivity and high conversion of acetylene to ethylene via semi-hydrogenation is quite challenging. Bimetallic catalysts offer opportunities to selectively control reaction pathways by altering the electronic and geometric properties of active sites on the catalyst surface. Recent advancements in the synthesis of bimetallic catalysts enabled the creation of random alloys, intermetallics, segregated structures, or single-site alloys with precision. These catalysts could be tailored for semi-hydrogenation of acetylene by tuning the features including adsorption energy, active site isolation, and the d-band center. Modern machine learning tools are also helpful for catalyst design. In this article, an overview of the conceptual advances in the design aspects of bimetallic catalysts, advances and challenges involved in the acetylene semi-hydrogenation, has been presented.