近年来,纳米科学技术的迅速发展给催化领域,特别是多相催化带来了新的机遇和挑战.科学家们开始着眼于在纳米尺度上对催化剂结构和催化性能进行表征、控制和设计Co3O4作为一种重要的半导体金属氧化物材料,由于其优异的氧化还原性质、在锂电池、气体传感器以及多相催化领域得到了十分广泛的应用.最近,研究者发现Co3O4纳米晶在催化CO低温氧化和CH4活化等一系列重要反应中表现出显著的反应活性和晶面效应,表明有效设计和合成特定的高活性、高选择性的纳米晶面,对催化领域的发展将具有十分重要的意义.因而,从原子层面对纳米晶所表现出的这种高活性和晶面效应进行深入解释,将为高效催化剂设计提供重要指导.低温CO氧化作为一种重要的催化反应在燃料电池、空气净化与汽车尾气处理中具有重要的应用价值,本文采用密度泛函理论对Co3O4纳米晶催化CO氧化反应的机理、晶面效应以及结构敏感性进行了理论研究.首先,研究了CO在Co3O4(001)和(011)表面Co,Co-O°和Co-Ot三种不同位点的吸附扩散行为,发现CO在Co位点表现出较强的吸附行为,但这种吸附构型需要克服很高的能垒(1eV)才能转变到Co-O离子对位点,在低温下这种转变将不可能发生,因此我们推断CO在Co位点的吸附对Co3O4催化CO氧化的晶面效应没有显著影响.接着,对CO在Co-O离子对位点抽提晶格氧生成CO2的反应机理进行了研究.我们发现(011)表面Co-Ot位点可以较强地吸附CO(吸附能-1.15 eV),并十分容易夺取晶格氧离子(能垒0.26eV),具有很低的势能面,因而其CO氧化活性明显大于(001)面.为了更清楚地理解这种晶面效应和结构敏感效应的本质,我们提出将CO2形成步的过渡态在反应路径上的能级作为反应活性指标.这种活性指标兼顾考虑了CO在Co-O氧位点的吸附覆盖度和CO2形成步的反应能垒,可以近
Low-temperature CO oxidation has attracted extensive interest in heterogeneous catalysis because of the potential applications in fuel cells,air cleaning,and automotive emission reduction.In the present study,theoretical investigations have been performed using density functional theory to elucidate the crystal plane effect and structure sensitivity of Co3O4 nano-catalysts toward catalyzing CO oxidation.It is shown that the surface Co–O ion pairs are the active site for CO oxidation on the Co3O4 surface.Because of stronger CO adsorption and easier removal of lattice oxygen ions,the Co3O4(011)surface is shown to be more reactive for CO oxidation than the Co3O4(001)surface,which is consistent with previous experimental results.By comparing the reaction pathways at different sites on each surface,we have further elucidated the nature of the crystal plane effect on Co3O4 surfaces and attributed the reactivity to the surface reducibility.Our results suggest that CO oxidation catalyzed by Co3O4 nanocrystals has a strong crystal plane effect and structure sensitivity.Lowering the vacancy formation energy of the oxide surface is key for high CO oxidation reactivity.