Atomically Dispersed Cu Anchored on Nitrogen and Boron Codoped Carbon Nanosheets for Enhancing Catalytic Performance
Yan Liu, Yamin Zheng, Panpan Dong, Wenzhuang Zhang, Wenjie Wu, Junjie Mao
Abstract
Development of high-performance heterogeneous catalytic materials is important for the rapid upgrade of chemicals, which remains a challenge. Here, the benzene oxidation reaction was used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the atomic interface strategy to improve catalytic performance. The developed B,N-cocoordinated Cu single atoms anchored on carbon nanosheets (Cu1/B–N) with the Cu–N2B1 atomic interface was prepared by the pyrolysis of a precoordinated Cu precursor. Benefiting from the unique atomic Cu–N2B1 interfacial structure, the designed Cu1/B–N exhibited considerable activity in the oxidation of benzene, which was much higher than Cu1/N–C, Cu NPs/N–C, and N–C catalysts. A theoretical study showed that the enhanced catalytic performance resulted from the optimized adsorption of intermediates, which originated from the manipulation of the electronic structure of Cu single atoms induced by B atom coordination in the Cu–N2B1 atomic interface. This study provides an innovative approach for the rational design of high-performance heterogeneous catalytic materials at the atomic level.