Direct Dry Synthesis of Supported Bimetallic Catalysts: A Study on Comminution and Alloying of Metal Nanoparticles

Ball milling is growing increasingly important as an alternative synthetic tool to prepare catalytic materials. It was recently observed that supported metal catalysts could be directly obtained upon ball milling from the coarse powders of metal and oxide support. Moreover, when two compatible metal sources are simultaneously subjected to the mechanochemical treatment, bimetallic nanoparticles are obtained. A systematic investigation was extended to different metals and supports to understand better the mechanisms involved in the comminution and alloying of metal nanoparticles. Based on this, a model describing the role of metal‐support interactions in the synthesis was developed. The findings will be helpful for the future rational design of supported metal catalysts via dry ball milling. Bimetallic supported nanoparticles can be obtained by direct ball milling of the coarse powders of the metals and oxide support. The process was time‐resolved via X‐ray diffraction methods and electron microscopy so that a possible mechanism for the comminution and alloying of metal nanoparticles was developed. The study was extended to different systems, and it was found that final material features, like metal dispersion, can be predicted.