Interfacial dependent reactive oxygen species generation over Pt-ZrO2 nanoparticles for catalytic oxidation of formaldehyde at room temperature

Abstract

Producing the strong metal-support interaction (SMSI) interface and highly reactive oxygen species is a great challenge for catalytic oxidation of formaldehyde (HCHO) at room temperature over supported metal catalysts. Herein, we report a conceptual oxygen vacancy (VO) associated SMSI interface of Pt-ZrO2 nanoparticles for HCHO catalysis at room temperature, exhibiting interfacial dependent reactive oxygen species (O*) formation. The VO on the ZrO2 support captures and activates the molecular O2, then proceeds to generating the reactive oxygen atom (O*) with a lower activation barrier of 0.3 eV. The generated O* tends to link the (110) surface of ZrO2 and the (111) surface of Pt as an electronic transmission channel for the selective catalytic oxidation of HCHO adsorbed on the (110) surface of ZrO2, accelerating the direct generation of formate species and mineralization of HCHO. The Pt-VO-ZrO2 achieves high HCHO removal and HCHO conversion (>95%) at 20 °C. These findings will consolidate the fundamental theories of room temperature catalytic reactions via constructing the SMSI interface engineering for wide environmental applications.