Research
Constructing exclusive Pt@WO x interfacial sites enables selective C–O bond activation
The Brief
- Researchers report Pt@WOx catalysts with exclusively interfacial active sites.
- The catalysts selectively convert glycerol to 1,3-propanediol.
- The work is published in Nature Communications on 12 November 2026 (doi:10.1038/s41467-026-79789-8).
Why it matters
It shows a way to build metal-oxide catalysts whose active sites sit only at the metal-oxide interface, which may guide the design of selective catalysts for converting biomass-derived glycerol into diols.
Who’s affected
- catalysis and chemical engineering researchers
- researchers working on biomass conversion
- #catalysis
- #c-o bond activation
- #glycerol conversion
- #interfacial sites
- #heterogeneous catalysis
Nature Communications, Published online: 12 November 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-79789-8 Precisely constructing metal–oxide catalysts with exclusively interfacial active sites remains challenging. Here, glycerol is selectively converted to 1,3-propanediol over catalysts in which…
Timeline
Study published online in Nature Communications
nature.com
Constructing exclusive Pt@WO x interfacial sites enables selective C–O bond activation