Recent Advances in Single‐Atom Catalysis

Industrial hydrogen production through methane steam reforming exceeds 50 million tons annually and accounts for 2-5% of global energy consumption. The hydrogen product, even after processing by the water-gas shift, still typically contains ∼1% CO, which must be removed for many applications. Methanation (CO + 3H2 → CH4 + H2O) is an effective solution to this problem, but consumes 5-15% of the generated hydrogen. The preferential oxidation (PROX) of CO with O2 in hydrogen represents a more-efficient solution. Supported gold nanoparticles, with their high CO-oxidation activity and notoriously low hydrogenation activity, have long been examined as PROX catalysts, but have shown disappointingly low activity and selectivity. Here we show that, under the proper conditions, a commercial Au/Al2O3 catalyst can remove CO to below 10 ppm and still maintain an O2-to-CO2 selectivity of 80-90%. The key to maximizing the catalyst activity and selectivity is to carefully control the feed-flow rate and maintain one to two monolayers of water (a key CO-oxidation co-catalyst) on the catalyst surface.

Design of efficient noble metal single-atom and cluster catalysts toward low-temperature preferential oxidation of CO in H2

Tailoring Ir-FeOx interactions and catalytic performance in preferential oxidation of CO in H2 via the morphology engineering of anatase TiO2 over Ir-FeOx/TiO2 catalysts

Highlights of the major progress in single-atom catalysis in 2015 and 2016

Preferential oxidation of CO in H2 was studied by in situ ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) and mass spectrometry on flat model Cu and Cu/CeOx catalysts. The experimental findings were interpreted and compared with the results from density functional theory (DFT) calculations of the adsorption and activation energies for the essential reaction steps on Cu(1 1 1). It was found that oxidation of CO preferentially takes place on Cu(0) and that no significant H2 oxidation took place under any of the investigated conditions. The presence of CeOx accelerates Cu(0)-oxidation which leads to catalyst deactivation. In contrast, CeOx promotes the CO oxidation rate on catalysts that were already oxidized to CuOx. The coexistence of CO and H2 is important to sustain the stability of metallic Cu and thereby a high rate of CO2 formation. In pure CO/O2 gas, the metallic phase can only be maintained as long as full O2 conversion is reached. In pure H2/O2, Cu is always partly but never fully oxidized, suggesting that a passivating surface layer is formed. This is also the case for H2 rich gas mixtures with small amounts of CO and O2. The most active surface termination, Cu(0), can therefore not be maintained under the industrially most interesting reaction condition where full conversion of trace amounts of CO in H2 is required. DFT calculations predict that the dissociative H2 adsorption is a key limiting step for hydrogen oxidation on the Cu(1 1 1) surface, especially when the low sticking coefficient is taken into account.

Computationally assisted, surface energy-driven synthesis of Mn-doped Co3O4 fibers with high percentage of reactive facets and enhanced activity for preferential oxidation of CO in H2

Platinum-based heterogeneous catalysts are critical to many important commercial chemical processes, but their efficiency is extremely low on a per metal atom basis, because only the surface active-site atoms are used. Catalysts with single-atom dispersions are thus highly desirable to maximize atom efficiency, but making them is challenging. Here we report the synthesis of a single-atom catalyst that consists of only isolated single Pt atoms anchored to the surfaces of iron oxide nanocrystallites. This single-atom catalyst has extremely high atom efficiency and shows excellent stability and high activity for both CO oxidation and preferential oxidation of CO in H2. Density functional theory calculations show that the high catalytic activity correlates with the partially vacant 5d orbitals of the positively charged, high-valent Pt atoms, which help to reduce both the CO adsorption energy and the activation barriers for CO oxidation.

Bifunctionally faceted Pt/Ru nanoparticles for preferential oxidation of CO in H2

The preferential oxidation (PROX) of CO in the presence of H(2) is an important step in the production of pure H(2) for industrial applications. In this report, two sonochemical methods (S1 and S2) were used to prepare highly dispersed Ru catalysts supported on mesoporous TiO(2) (TiO(2)(MSP)) for the PROX reaction, in which a reaction gas mixture containing 1% CO + 1% O(2) + 18% CO(2) + 78% H(2) was used. The supported Ru catalysts performed better than the supported Au and Pt catalysts, and the S1 and S2 methods are superior to the impregnation method. The Ru/TiO(2)(MSP) catalysts were active for the PROX reaction below 200 °C and good for the methanation reactions of CO and CO(2) above 200 °C. The presence of residual chlorine in the catalysts severely suppressed their PROX reaction activity, and a higher dispersion of Ru particles led to better catalytic performances. The addition of Au in the Ru/TiO(2)(MSP) catalyst also caused a poorer catalytic activity for both the PROX and the methanation reactions. TPR results showed that in the active catalysts prepared by the S1 and S2 methods, the well dispersed Ru particles, after calcination in air, had a stronger interaction with the support than those in the catalyst prepared by the impregnation method and in the Au-Ru/TiO(2)(MSP) catalyst. In situ CO absorption experiments performed with the diffusion reflectance Fourier transform infra red (DRIFT) method showed that the bridged adsorbed CO species on isolated Ru(0) sites correlated with the catalytic performances, indicating that these isolated Ru(0) sites are the most active sites of the Ru/TiO(2)(MSP) catalysts in the PROX reaction.

The N-doped carbon nanocage-supported Pt nanoparticle catalyst exhibits high activity and stability for preferential oxidation of CO in H2 over a wide temperature range of 80-180 °C, which is attributed to the modulated electronic structure of Pt and high accessibility of active sites endowed by hierarchical N-doped carbon nanocages.

Local structure of Pt species dictates remarkable performance on Pt/Al2O3 for preferential oxidation of CO in H2

Mechanochemical activation was used in the synthesis of CuO-CeO2 catalysts for the preferential oxidation of CO in the presence of excess H2. Catalysts similar in properties to supported CuO/CeO2 systems were prepared from mixtures of copper oxide (5 or 10 wt % CuO) and cerium dioxide with the use of mechanochemical activation. It was found that the time of mechanochemical activation influences the catalytic properties: a maximum conversion of CO into CO2 (97%) at 140°C was achieved with a sample of 10 wt % CuO-90 wt % CeO2 after mechanochemical activation in a ball mill for 90 min. Changes in the phase compositions of the catalysts depending on mechanochemical activation time and reaction mixture composition were studied by X-ray diffraction. The interaction of the oxides of copper and cerium in the process of mechanochemical activation with the formation of new Cu-O-Ce surface structures, which, supposedly constitute active sites for CO oxidation, was found using differential scanning calorimetry and differential thermogravimetric analysis.

“Ir-in-ceria”: A highly selective catalyst for preferential CO oxidation

Preferential oxidation of CO in H2 (PROX) reaction is a promising solution to the on-board purification of CO-contaminated H2 fuel for use in next-generation proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC). However, achieving high CO selectivity, activity and structural stability across the wide temperature window remains a great challenge. Herein, we fabricate centimeter scale interfacial PROX catalysts grown from nanoporous single-crystalline Pr2 O3 and Nd2 O3 monoliths with lattice surface-deposited Pt clusters at nanoscale. We demonstrate complete and selective removal of CO in H2 over an unprecedented wide temperature window (253-403 K). The monoliths are integrated with an operational PEMFC to purify the H2 fuel contaminated with CO (30 ppm) and enable stable power output for >400 h; over two thousand times longer than without. This work demonstrates that the nanoporous single-crystalline oxide monoliths can simultaneously achieve the stability and overall performance required to realize practically useful PEMFCs.

Inverse oxide/metal model systems are frequently used to investigate catalytic structure-function relationships at an atomic level. By means of a novel atomic layer deposition process, growth of single-site Fe1Ox on a Pt(111) single crystal surface was achieved, as confirmed by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The redox properties of the catalyst were characterized by synchrotron radiation based ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (AP-XPS). After calcination treatment at 373 K in 1 mbar O2 the chemical state of the catalyst was determined as Fe3+. Reduction in 1 mbar H2 at 373 K demonstrates a facile reduction to Fe2+ and complete hydroxylation at significantly lower temperatures than what has been reported for iron oxide nanoparticles. At reaction conditions relevant for preferential oxidation of CO in H2 (PROX), the catalyst exhibits a Fe3+ state (ferric hydroxide) at 298 K while re-oxidation of iron oxide clusters does not occur under the same condition. CO oxidation proceeds on the single-site Fe1(OH)3 through a mechanism including the loss of hydroxyl groups in the temperature range of 373 to 473 K, but no reaction is observed on iron oxide clusters. The results highlight the high flexibility of the single iron atom catalyst in switching oxidation states, not observed for iron oxide nanoparticles under similar reaction conditions, which may indicate a higher intrinsic activity of such single interfacial sites than the conventional metal-oxide interfaces. In summary, our findings of the redox properties on inverse single-site iron oxide model catalyst may provide new insights into applied Fe-Pt catalysis.