Chinese Journal of Catalysis ›› 2014, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (12): 1937-1943.DOI: 10.1016/S1872-2067(14)60169-8

• Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

First-principles study of NO reduction by CO on transition metal atoms-doped CeO2(111)

Wuchen Ding, Weixue Li   

  1. State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 110623, Liaoning, China
  • Received:2014-05-16 Revised:2014-06-10 Online:2014-11-29 Published:2014-11-29
  • Supported by:

    This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21173210, 21225315), the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, 2013CB834603), and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA09030000).

Abstract:

We present here a density functional theory plus U study of NO reduction with CO, catalyzed by a single transition metal atom (TM1 = Zr1, Tc1, Ru1, Rh1, Pd1, Pt1)-doped CeO2(111). The catalytic center was identified as the TM dopant in combination with lattice oxygen. The investigation into N2 selectivity focused on three key elementary steps: gaseous N2O formation, subsequent re-adsorption, and N-O bond scission to produce N2. In these steps, Rh1, Pd1, and Pt1/CeO2(111) exhibit a higher selectivity, whereas the other systems (Zr1, Tc1, Ru1) TM1/CeO2 show a lower selectivity. The higher selectivity displayed by Pt1, Pd1, and Rh1 dopants arises from the availability of valence d electrons, which permit the formation of strong chemical bonds with the reactants and intermediates. Calculated results agree well with experimental findings, and the insights gained can be used to guide the rational design of the doped oxides for catalysis.

Key words: Nitrogen oxide reduction, Single atom, Single transition metal atom/ceria, Cleavage, Density functional theory plus U