1 research outputs found
Efficient CO Oxidation by 50-Facet Cu<sub>2</sub>O Nanocrystals Coated with CuO Nanoparticles
As carbon monoxide
oxidation is widely used for various chemical
processes (such as methanol synthesis and water-gas shift reactions
H<sub>2</sub>O + CO ⇄ CO<sub>2</sub> + H<sub>2</sub>) as well
as in industry, it is essential to develop highly energy efficient,
inexpensive, and eco-friendly catalysts for CO oxidation. Here we
report green synthesis of ∼10 nm sized CuO nanoparticles (NPs)
aggregated on ∼400 nm sized 50-facet Cu<sub>2</sub>O polyhedral
nanocrystals. This CuO-NPs/50-facet Cu<sub>2</sub>O shows remarkable
CO oxidation reactivity with very high specific CO oxidation activity
(4.5 μmol<sub>CO</sub> m<sup>–2</sup> s<sup>–1</sup> at 130 °C) and near-complete 99.5% CO conversion efficiency
at ∼175 °C. This outstanding catalytic performance by
CuO NPs over the pristine multifaceted Cu<sub>2</sub>O nanocrystals
is attributed to the surface oxygen defects present in CuO NPs which
facilitate binding of CO and O<sub>2</sub> on their surfaces. This
new material opens up new possibilities of replacing the usage of
expensive CO oxidation materials