Structure evolution and specific effect for catalysis of atomically ordered intermetallic compounds

Abstract

Atomically ordered intermetallic compounds (IMCs) have been extensively studied for exploring catalysts with high activity, selectivity, and longevity. Compared to the random alloys, IMCs presented more pronounced geometric and electronic effect with desirable catalytic performance. The well-defined structure makes the IMCs ideal model catalysts for revealing the catalytic mechanism. This review focuses specially on the elemental composition, electron transfer, and structure/phase evolution under high temperature treatment conditions. Providing direct evidence for the migration and rearrangement of metal atoms combined with electron microscope. We then present the outstanding applications of IMCs in growing single-walled nano tubes, hydrogenation/dehydrogenation reaction, and electrocatalysis from the perspective of electronic, geometric, strain, and bifunctional effect of the ordered IMCs. Finally, the current obstacles associated with the use of in situ techniques are proposed, as well as future research possibilities.