Highly Efficient Catalysis of Preferential Oxidation of CO in H₂‑Rich Stream by Gold Single-Atom Catalysts

Abstract

Preferential oxidation of CO (PROX) in H₂-rich stream is critical to the production of clean H₂ for the H₂-based fuel cells, which provide clean and efficient energy conversion. Development of highly active and selective PROX catalysts is highly desirable but proved to be extremely challenging. Here we report that CeO₂-supported Au single atoms (Au₁/CeO₂) are highly active, selective, and extremely stable for PROX at the PEMFC working temperature (∼80 °C) with >99.5% CO conversion over a wide temperature window, 70–120 °C (or 50–100 °C, depending on the Au loading). The high CO conversion realized at high temperatures is attributed to the unique property of single-atom catalysts that is unable to dissociatively adsorb H₂ and thus has a low reactivity toward H₂ oxidation. This strategy is proven in general and can be extended to other oxide-supported Au atoms (e.g., Au₁/FeO_<i>x</i>), which may open a new window for the efficient catalysis of the PROX reaction