Boosting the catalysis of gold by O2 activation at Au-SiO2 interface

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 11; no. 1; p. 558
• Main Authors: Zhang, Yunlai, Zhang, Junying, Zhang, Bingsen, Si, Rui, Han, Bing, Hong, Feng, Niu, Yiming, Sun, Li, Li, Lin, Qiao, Botao, Sun, Keju, Huang, Jiahui, Haruta, Masatake
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 28.01.2020; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 140/146; 147/135; 639/638/77/884; 639/638/77/885; 639/638/77/887; Activation; Catalysis; Catalysts; Chemical reactions; Gold; High temperature; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Nanoparticles; Organic chemistry; Oxidation; Roasting; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Silicon dioxide; Sintering; Thermal stability; Titanium dioxide
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-14241-8

Supported gold (Au) nanocatalysts have attracted extensive interests in the past decades because of their unique catalytic properties for a number of key chemical reactions, especially in (selective) oxidations. The activation of O 2 on Au nanocatalysts is crucial and remains a challenge because only small Au nanoparticles (NPs) can effectively activate O 2 . This severely limits their practical application because Au NPs inevitably sinter into larger ones during reaction due to their low Taman temperature. Here we construct a Au-SiO 2 interface by depositing thin SiO 2 layer onto Au/TiO 2 and calcination at high temperatures and demonstrate that the interface can be not only highly sintering resistant but also extremely active for O 2 activation. This work provides insights into the catalysis of Au nanocatalysts and paves a way for the design and development of highly active supported Au catalysts with excellent thermal stability. The development of sintering resistant supported Au catalysts with high activity still remains a challenge. Here the authors construct a Au-SiO 2 interface by depositing SiO 2 thin layer onto Au/TiO 2 catalyst which shows very high activity in CO oxidation even after calcination at 800 °C.