In this work, by density functional theory, the palladium nanoclusters were investigated in order to design new catalysts for the selective hydrogenation of acetylene present in olefin feeds. At first, the palladium nanoclusters were studied using PBE-G functional with DNP-ECP basis set. According to the performed calculations, among all the Pdn (n = 2–15) nanoclusters, two Pd12 and Pd2 nanoclusters can be used as catalysts in the reactions of hydrogenation of acetylene and ethylene. The adsorption energy of hydrogen on the Pd12 nanocluster is higher than that of acetylene and ethylene, and therefore, the Pd12 nanocluster is more appropriate for the hydrogenation of acetylene and ethylene. However, the calculated activation energy barriers for the reactions of hydrogenation of acetylene and ethylene showed that the Pd2 nanocluster has more selectivity in comparison to the Pd12 nanocluster. According to our results, the activation energy of the hydrogenation of acetylene to vinyl on the Pd2 nanocluster is 23.96 kJ/mol lower than that on the Pd12 nanocluster. Also, the activation energy of the hydrogenation of ethylene to ethyl on the Pd2 nanocluster is higher than that on the Pd12 nanocluster Therefore, it seems that the Pd2 surface can be used as a catalyst for the selective hydrogenation of acetylene.
