Fabrication of Bimetallic Nanostructures via Aerosol-Assisted Electroless Silver Deposition for Catalytic CO Conversion

Bimetallic nanostructures were fabricated via aerosol-assisted electroless silver deposition for catalytic CO conversion. An ambient spark discharge was employed to produce nanocatalysts, and the particles were directly deposited on a polytetrafluoroethylene substrate for initiating silver deposition to form Pd-Ag, Pt-Ag, Au-Ag bimetallic nanostructures as well as a pure Ag nanostructure. Kinetics and morphological evolutions in the silver deposition with different nanocatalysts were comparatively studied. The Pt catalyst displayed the highest catalytic activity for electroless silver deposition, followed by the order Pd > Au > Ag. Another catalytic activity of the fabricated bimetallic structures in the carbon monoxide conversion was further evaluated at low-temperature conditions. The bimetallic systems showed significantly higher catalytic activity than that from a pure Ag system.