In situ characterization of catalytic activity of graphene stabilized small-sized Pd nanoparticles for CO oxidation

The room-temperature ionic liquid assisted sputtering method is utilized to achieve the Pd-nanoparticle (NP)–graphene hybrid. The supported Pd NPs possess uniformly small sizes of 1–2 nm, which create huge surface area with ultralow Pd consumption and high NP stability. The Pd-NP–graphene hybrid is in situ characterized by the ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy using synchrotron radiation, and the results demonstrate high catalytic activity of the hybrid for CO oxidation. The catalytic behavior is reproducible for several catalytic cycles. The present simple and clean approach is promising to produce metal-NP-based high-efficiency catalysts for CO oxidation.