Oxide-Nanotrap-Anchored Platinum Nanoparticles with High Activity and Sintering Resistance by Area-Selective Atomic Layer Deposition

An area-selective atomic layer deposition (AS-ALD) method is described to construct oxide nanotraps to anchor Pt nanoparticles (NPs) on Al₂ O₃ supports. The as-synthesized catalysts have exhibited outstanding room-temperature CO oxidation activity, with a significantly lowered apparent activation energy (ca. 22.17 kJ mol^-1 ) that is half that of pure Pt catalyst with the same loading. Furthermore, the structure shows excellent sintering resistance with the high catalytic activity retention up to 600 °C calcination. The key feature of the oxide nanotraps lies in its ability to anchor Pt NPs via strong metal-oxide interactions while still leaving active metal facets exposed. Our reported method for forming such oxide structure with nanotraps shows great potential for the simultaneous enhancement of thermal stability and activity of precious metal NPs.