Selectivity driven design of bimetallic ethylene epoxidation catalysts from first principles

The sequence of key elementary steps for ethylene epoxidation on silver was developed from surface science experiments and computational chemistry. This molecular-level mechanistic information was used as an input in computational screening of potential bimetallic alloy catalysts. The aim of the computational screening was to identify a catalyst that would offer higher selectivity to ethylene oxide (EO) than the traditional monometallic silver catalyst. Computational screening led to formulation of a new Cu/Ag alloy that is more selective than Ag to EO. These predictions were verified by steady-state experiments with monolith-supported catalysts.