Interactions
between metals and oxide supports are crucial in determining
catalytic activity, selectivity, and stability. For reducible oxide
supported noble metals, a strong metal–support interaction
(SMSI) has been widely recognized. Herein we report the intermediate
selectivity and stability over an irreducible SiO2 supported
Pt catalyst in the hydrogenation of anthracene that are significantly
boosted due to the SMSI-induced formation of intermetallic Pt silicide
and Pt–SiO2 interface. The limitation in the strong
interaction between Pt nanoparticles and irreducible SiO2 has been breached by combining the strong electrostatic adsorption
method and following the high temperature reduction strategy. Due
to the isolated Pt active sites by Si atoms, the activated H species
produced over the Pt2Si/SiO2 catalyst with an
initial catalytic activity of 2.49 μmol/(m2/g)/h
as well as TOF of 0.95 s–1 preferentially transfer
to the outer ring of anthracene to 87% yield of symmetric octahydroanthracene
(sym-OHA) by subsequent hydrogenation. In addition,
the Pt2Si/SiO2 catalyst presents an excellent
stability after five cycles, which can be attributed to the fact that
intermetallic Pt2Si nanoparticles are anchored firmly onto
the surface of the SiO2 support. The discovery contributes
to broaden the horizons on the SMSI effect in the irreducible oxide
supported metal particle catalysts and provides guidance to design
the metal–SiO2 interface and tune the surface chemical
properties in diverse application conditions.