Hydrogenolysis of ethane on evaporated copper-nickel alloy films

Abstract

The hydrogenolysis of ethane has been studied on a series of copper-nickel film catalysts at temperatures greater than 320°C, where the alloys are single-phased. A gradual fall in activity with nickel content is found with no break at median compositions and, while activity persists to ca. 4 % nickel content, copper films are inactive. This behaviour is not amenable to description by the simple (rigid) band approach to the electronic structure of alloys but emphasizes the retention of catalytic character of individual nickel atoms.