Critical role of NiO support morphology for high activity of Au/NiO nanocatalysts in CO oxidation
Sami Barkaoui, Yanrong Wang, Yifei Zhang, Xinrui Gu, Zhiwen Li, Binli Wang, Alfons Baiker, Gao Li, Zhen Zhao
Abstract
The effect on catalytic behavior induced by different morphology of NiO supports has been investigated using the example of gold-catalyzed CO oxidation. Three NiO-supported nanogold consisting of nanogold deposited onto NiO nanorods (NiO-R), nanosheet (NiO-S), and nanodiscs (NiO-D) were prepared. Transmission electron microscopy(TEM)/Scanning transmission electron microscopy(STEM) investigations indicated that Au particles dominantly exposed Au(111) facets virtually independent of NiO architectures. Au/NiO-S displayed a normal Arrhenius-type behavior. Au/NiO-R and Au/NiO-D showed an atypical behavior, characterized by a U-shaped curve of activity vs. temperature, which is attributed to the carbonate accumulation on whose catalytically active sites. On Au/NiO-R, a stable CO-conversion rate of 1.78 mol CO g Au −1 h −1 at 30°C was achieved, which is among the higher rates reported so far for supported Au-based systems. DRIFTS measurement identified Au δ+ species as crucial CO adsorption sites promoting CO oxidation, and the catalytic CO oxidation should obey Mars-van Krevelen (<200°C) and Eley-Rideal mechanism (>240°C).