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Engineering topics

Li, Guangshe

Publications and source records attributed to Li, Guangshe.

Embedding Reverse Electron Transfer Between Stably Bare Cu Nanoparticles and Cation‐Vacancy CuWO 4

Cu nanoparticles (NPs) have attracted widespread attention in electronics, energy, and catalysis. However, conventionally synthesized Cu NPs face some challenges such as surface passivation and agglomeration in applications, which impairs their functionalities in the physicochemical properties. Here, the issues above by engineering an embedded interface of stably bare Cu NPs on the cation-vacancy CuWO 4 support is addressed, which induces the strong metal-support interactions and reverse electron transfer. Various atomic-scale analyses directly demonstrate the unique electronic structure of the embedded Cu NPs with negative charge and anion oxygen protective layer, which mitigates the typical degradation pathways such as oxidation in ambient air, high-temperature agglomeration, and CO poisoning adsorption. Kinetics and in situ spectroscopic studies unveil that the embedded electron-enriched Cu NPs follow the typical Eley-Rideal mechanism in CO oxidation, contrasting the Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism on the traditional Cu NPs. This mechanistic shift is driven by the Coulombic repulsion in anion oxygen layer, enabling its direct reaction with gaseous CO to form the easily desorbed monodentate carbonate.

Cu nanoparticles↗

Engineering Active Surface Oxygen Sites of Cubic Perovskite Cobalt Oxides toward Catalytic Oxidation Reactions

Unraveling the role of surface oxygen sites in transition metal oxides during catalytic reactions has always been the focus of environmental and energy chemistry research. For this work, active surface oxygen sites of cubic perovskite cobalt oxide were engineered to comprehend their crucial role and catalytic mechanism at the molecular level. By removing those inert Sr/La–O termination layers, active oxygen sites were exposed on the Co terminated surface of Sr 0.6 La 0.4 CoO 3–δ that furnished the dominant catalytic process of CO oxidation via the Mars–van Krevelen (MvK) mechanism. The fabrication of five-coordinate cobalt ions and the enhanced covalency of Co–O bonds not only optimize the surface electronic structure of Co 3d–O 2p, but also supply active surface oxygen sites, which effectively oxidizes CO to CO 2 with a significantly improved oxidation performance and stability as evidenced by soft/hard XAS, XPS, and O 2 -TPD. Furthermore, online isotopic 18 O 2 mass spectrometry, in situ DRIFTS, and theoretical simulation demonstrate that the activity of surface oxygen sites enhances the kinetics of the MvK reaction, while unsaturated coordination sites from five-coordinate cobalt ions primarily contribute to the activated oxygen molecules and the stable catalytic cycle. The results reported here provide a deep insight into the comprehension of the relationships among active oxygen sites, surface electronic structure, and the reaction mechanism of transition metal oxides necessary for catalytic oxidation reactions.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Manipulating Surface Termination of Perovskite Manganate for Oxygen Activation

For ABO 3 perovskite oxides, one of the key issues limiting their utilization in heterogeneous catalysis is the dominant presence of catalytically inactive A-site cations at the surface. The engineering of B-site terminated perovskites is considered as an effective method to address this issue, especially when dealing with Mn/Co-based perovskite catalysts. However, to date, such a strategy has not been fully successful and remains a major challenge in the field. Herein, a Mn-terminated La 0.45 Sr 0.45 MnO 3 (B-LSM) is successfully synthesized via a one-pot hydrothermal method, in which low-valence Mn ions partially occupy the A site to form the active Mn-excess phase. Additionally, experimental results and theoretical calculations reveal that the presence of the surface Mn termination in B-LSM optimizes the hybrid orbitals of Mn 3d-O 2p and promotes the activation of surface lattice oxygen, where the pristine inert lattice O 2- is evolved into active and stable lattice O 2-x . Such structural optimization significantly reduces the activation energy barriers on going from O 2 ⁻ species to important intermediate O - species during O 2 activation. Moreover, this results in good stability and Pt-like activity for the B-LSM during CO oxidation. This work offers a new chemical route for the design of advanced perovskite-type oxides possessing novel functions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗