Summary: Designing nanocatalysts with synergetic functional component is a desirable strategy to achieve both high activity and selectivity for industrially important hydrogenation reaction. Herein, we fabricated a core-shell hollow Au@Pt NTs@ZIFs (ZIF, zeolitic imidazolate framework; NT, nanotube) nanocomposite as highly efficient catalysts for semi-hydrogenation of acetylene. Hollow Au@Pt NTs were synthesized by epitaxial growth of Pt shell on Au nanorods followed with oxidative etching of Au@Pt nanorod. The obtained hollow Au@Pt NTs were then homogeneously encapsulated within ZIFs through in situ crystallization. By combining the high activity of bimetallic nanotube and gas enrichment property of porous metal-organic frameworks, hollow Au@Pt NT@ZIF catalyst was demonstrated to show superior catalytic performance for the semi-hydrogenation of acetylene, in terms of both selectivity and activity, over those of monometallic Au and solid bimetal nanorod@ZIF counterparts. This catalysts design idea is believed to be inspirable for the development of highly efficient nanocomposite catalysts.
