CeO 2 /Cu 2 O/Cu Tandem Interfaces for Efficient Water-Gas Shift Reaction Catalysis

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces 2023-07, Vol.15 (26), p.31584-31594
• Main Authors: Li, Zhengjian, Wang, Mingzhi, Jia, Yanyan, Du, Ruian, Li, Tan, Zheng, Yanping, Chen, Mingshu, Qiu, Yongcai, Yan, Keyou, Zhao, Wei-Wei, Wang, Pei, Waterhouse, Geoffrey I N, Dai, Sheng, Zhao, Yun, Chen, Guangxu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.3c06386

Metal-oxide interfaces on Cu-based catalysts play very important roles in the low-temperature water-gas shift reaction (LT-WGSR). However, developing catalysts with abundant, active, and robust Cu-metal oxide interfaces under LT-WGSR conditions remains challenging. Herein, we report the successful development of an inverse copper-ceria catalyst (Cu@CeO ), which exhibited very high efficiency for the LT-WGSR. At a reaction temperature of 250 °C, the LT-WGSR activity of the Cu@CeO catalyst was about three times higher than that of a pristine Cu catalyst without CeO . Comprehensive quasi-in situ structural characterizations indicated that the Cu@CeO catalyst was rich in CeO /Cu O/Cu tandem interfaces. Reaction kinetics studies and density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed that the Cu /Cu interfaces were the active sites for the LT-WGSR, while adjacent CeO nanoparticles play a key role in activating H O and stabilizing the Cu /Cu interfaces. Our study highlights the role of the CeO /Cu O/Cu tandem interface in regulating catalyst activity and stability, thus contributing to the development of improved Cu-based catalysts for the LT-WGSR.