Noble metals have been widely used as heterogeneous catalysts because they easily stand out with high activity and selectivity for many reactions of both scientific and industrial interest. At least a century ago, some light alloying elements with small atomic radii were known to easily permeate into the interstitial location of a metal lattice. The catalytic performance of noble metals has also been found to be highly sensitive to a low amount of light elements (e.g., H, C and B) in some cases. These catalysts show some uniqueness as compared with traditional metal-metal alloy catalysts, which brings about novel effects in geometric and electronic modifications of noble metals for optimization of catalytic properties.
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Source: Phys.org