Experimental results ethane hydrogenolysis

Fig. 5. Dihydrogen pressure dependencies for ethane hydrogenolysis at 0.0066 (a) and 0.033 (b) atm ethane pressures (experimental results O, 573 K , 623 K and 0,673 K). Predicted rates given by solid lines. Adapted from (55).

Direct experimental verification of very highly dispersed bimetallic clusters is complicated by limitations in the ability of physical methods to obtain structural information on such systems. In such a system, however, a catalytic reaction can serve as a sensitive probe to obtain evidence of interaction between the atoms of the two metallic components. For supported bimetallic combinations of a Group VIII and a Group IB metal, the hydrogenolysis of ethane to methane is a useful reaction for this purpose. In the case of unsupported bimetallic systems of this type, as discussed previously, the interaction between the Group VIII metal and the Group IB metal results in a marked suppression of the hydrogenolysis activity of the former. 

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