Skip to main content
Log in

Insight of the stability and activity of platinum single atoms on ceria

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Nano Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) have recently attracted broad attention in the catalysis field due to their maximized atom efficiency and unique catalytic properties. An atomic-level understanding of the interaction between the metal atoms and support is vital for developing stable and high-performance SACs. In this work, Pt1 single atoms with loadings up to 4 wt.% were fabricated on ceria nanorods using the atomic layer deposition technique. To understand the Pt–O–Ce bond interfacial interactions, the stability of Pt1 single atoms in the hydrogen reducing environment was extensively investigated by using in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy CO chemisorption measurements. It was found that ceria defect sites, metal loadings and high-temperature calcination are effective ways to tune the stability of Pt1 single atoms in the hydrogen environment. X-ray photoemission spectroscopy further showed that Pt1 single atoms on ceria are dominantly at a +2 valence state at the defect and step edge sites, while those on terrace sites are at a +4 state. The above tailored stability and electronic properties of Pt1 single atoms are found to be strongly correlated with the catalytic activity in the dry and water-mediated CO oxidation reactions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Sankar, M.; Dimitratos, N.; Miedziak, P. J.; Wells, P. P.; Kiely, C. J.; Hutchings, G. J. Designing bimetallic catalysts for a green and sustainable future. Chem. Soc. Rev. 2012, 41, 8099–8139.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Liu, L. C.; Corma, A. Metal catalysts for heterogeneous catalysis: From single atoms to nanoclusters and nanoparticles. Chem. Rev. 2018, 118, 4981–5079.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Gallezot, P. Conversion of biomass to selected chemical products. Chem. Soc. Rev. 2012, 41, 1538–1558.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Yang, J. H.; Wang, D. E.; Han, H. X.; Li, C. Roles of cocatalysts in photocatalysis and photoelectrocatalysis. Acc. Chem. Res. 2013, 46, 1900–1909.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Wu, J. B.; Yang, H. Platinum-based oxygen reduction electrocatalysts. Acc. Chem. Res. 2013, 46, 1848–1857.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Liu, J.; Yue, Y. Y.; Liu, H. Y.; Da, Z. J.; Liu, C. C.; Ma, A. Z.; Rong, J. F.; Su, D. S.; Bao, X. J.; Zheng, H. D. Origin of the robust catalytic performance of nanodiamond-graphene-supported Pt nanoparticles used in the propane dehydrogenation reaction. ACS Catal. 2017, 7, 3349–3355.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Qiao, B. T.; Wang, A. Q.; Yang, X. F.; Allard, L. F.; Jiang, Z.; Cui, Y. T.; Liu, J. Y.; Li, J.; Zhang, T. Single-atom catalysis of CO oxidation using Pt1/FeOx. Nat. Chem. 2011, 3, 634–641.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Aich, P.; Wei, H. J.; Basan, B.; Kropf, A. J.; Schweitzer, N. M.; Marshall, C. L.; Miller, J. T.; Meyer, R. Single-atom alloy Pd–Ag catalyst for selective hydrogenation of acrolein. J. Phys. Chem. C 2015, 119, 18140–18148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Lucci, F. R.; Liu, J. L.; Marcinkowski, M. D.; Yang, M.; Allard, L. F.; Flytzani-Stephanopoulos, M.; Sykes, E. C. H. Selective hydrogenation of 1,3-butadiene on platinum–copper alloys at the single-atom limit. Nat. Commun. 2015, 6, 8550.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Kyriakou, G.; Boucher, M. B.; Jewell, A. D.; Lewis, E. A.; Lawton, T. J.; Baber, A. E.; Tierney, H. L.; Flytzani-Stephanopoulos, M.; Sykes, E. C. H. Isolated metal atom geometries as a strategy for selective heterogeneous hydrogenations. Science 2012, 335, 1209–1212.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Liu, P. X.; Zhao, Y.; Qin, R. X.; Mo, S. G.; Chen, G. X.; Gu, L.; Chevrier, D. M.; Zhang, P.; Guo, Q.; Zang, D. D. et al. Photochemical route for synthesizing atomically dispersed palladium catalysts. Science 2016, 352, 797–800.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Huang, F.; Deng, Y. C.; Chen, Y. L.; Cai, X. B.; Peng, M.; Jia, Z. M.; Ren, P. J.; Xiao, D. Q.; Wen, X. D.; Wang, N. et al. Atomically dispersed Pd on nanodiamond/graphene hybrid for selective hydrogenation of acetylene. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 13142–13146.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Lin, J.; Wang, A. Q.; Qiao, B. T.; Liu, X. Y.; Yang, X. F.; Wang, X. D.; Liang, J. X.; Li, J.; Liu, J. Y.; Zhang, T. Remarkable performance of Ir1/Feox single-atom catalyst in water gas shift reaction. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 15314–15317.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Gu, X. K.; Qiao, B. T.; Huang, C. Q.; Ding, W. C.; Sun, K. J.; Zhan, E. S.; Zhang, T.; Liu, J. Y.; Li, W. S. Supported single Pt1/Au1 atoms for methanol steam reforming. ACS Catal. 2014, 4, 3886–3890.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Lin, L. L.; Zhou, W.; Gao, R.; Yao, S. Y.; Zhang, X.; Xu, W. Q.; Zheng, S. J.; Jiang, Z.; Yu, Q. L.; Li, Y. W. et al. Low-temperature hydrogen production from water and methanol using Pt/α-MoC catalysts. Nature 2017, 544, 80–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Fei, H. L.; Dong, J. C.; Arellano-Jiménez, M. J.; Ye, G. L.; Kim, N. D.; Samuel, E. L. G.; Peng, Z. W.; Zhu, Z.; Qin, F.; Bao, J. M. et al. Atomic cobalt on nitrogen-doped graphene for hydrogen generation. Nat. Commun. 2015, 6, 8668.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Chen, Y. J.; Ji, S. F.; Chen, C.; Peng, Q.; Wang, D. S.; Li, Y. D. Single-atom catalysts: Synthetic strategies and electrochemical applications. Joule 2018, 2, 1242–1264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Li, X. G.; Bi, W. T.; Zhang, L.; Tao, S.; Chu, W. S.; Zhang, Q.; Luo, Y.; Wu, C. Z.; Xie, Y. Single-atom Pt as Co-catalyst for enhanced photocatalytic H2 evolution. Adv. Mater. 2016, 28, 2427–2431.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Yang, X. F.; Wang, A. Q.; Qiao, B. T.; Li, J.; Liu, J. Y.; Zhang, T. Singleatom catalysts: A new frontier in heterogeneous catalysis. Acc. Chem. Res. 2013, 46, 1740–1748.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Campbell, C. T. The energetics of supported metal nanoparticles: Relationships to sintering rates and catalytic activity. Acc. Chem. Res. 2013, 46, 1712–1719.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Zhang, X.; Shi, H.; Xu, B. Q. Catalysis by gold: Isolated surface Au3+ ions are active sites for selective hydrogenation of 1,3-butadiene over Au/ZrO2 catalysts. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2005, 44, 7132–7135.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Li, T. B.; Liu, F.; Tang, Y.; Li, L.; Miao, S.; Su, Y.; Zhang, J. Y.; Huang, J. H.; Sun, H.; Haruta, M. et al. Maximizing the number of interfacial sites in single-atom catalysts for the highly selective, solvent-free oxidation of primary alcohols. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2018, 57, 7795–7799.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. DeRita, L.; Dai, S.; Lopez-Zepeda, K.; Pham, N.; Graham, G. W.; Pan, X. Q.; Christopher, P. Catalyst architecture for stable single atom dispersion enables site-specific spectroscopic and reactivity measurements of CO adsorbed to Pt atoms, oxidized Pt clusters, and metallic Pt clusters on TiO2. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139, 14150–14165.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Shan, J. J.; Li, M. W.; Allard, L. F.; Lee, S.; Flytzani-Stephanopoulos, M. Mild oxidation of methane to methanol or acetic acid on supported isolated rhodium catalysts. Nature 2017, 551, 605–608.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Wang, C. L.; Gu, X. K.; Yan, H.; Lin, Y.; Li, J. J.; Liu, D. D.; Li, W. X.; Lu, J. L. Water-mediated Mars-van Krevelen mechanism for CO oxidation on ceria-supported single-atom Pt1 catalyst. ACS Catal. 2017, 7, 887–891.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Tauster, S. J.; Fung, S. C.; Baker, R. T. K.; Horsley, J. A. Strong interactions in supported-metal catalysts. Science 1981, 211, 1121–1125.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Tang, H. L.; Liu, F.; Wei, J. K.; Qiao, B. T.; Zhao, K. F.; Su, Y.; Jin, C. Z.; Li, L.; Liu, J. Y.; Wang, J. H. et al. Ultrastable hydroxyapatite/titaniumdioxide-supported gold nanocatalyst with strong metal-support interaction for carbon monoxide oxidation. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2016, 55, 10606–10611.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Matsubu, J. C.; Zhang, S. Y.; DeRita, L.; Marinkovic, N. S.; Chen, J. G.; Graham, G. W.; Pan, X. Q.; Christopher, P. Adsorbate-mediated strong metal-support interactions in oxide-supported rh catalysts. Nat. Chem. 2017, 9, 120–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. O’Connor, N. J.; Jonayat, A. S. M.; Janik, M. J.; Senftle, T. P. Interaction trends between single metal atoms and oxide supports identified with density functional theory and statistical learning. Nat. Catal. 2018, 1, 531–539.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Wang, L.; Zhang, J.; Zhu, Y. H.; Xu, S. D.; Wang, C. T.; Bian, C. Q.; Meng, X. J.; Xiao, F. S. Strong metal-support interactions achieved by hydroxide-to-oxide support transformation for preparation of sinter-resistant gold nanoparticle catalysts. ACS Catal. 2017, 7, 7461–7465.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Branda, M. M.; Hernández, N. C.; Sanz, J. F.; Illas, F. Density functional theory study of the interaction of Cu, Ag, and Au atoms with the regular CeO2 (111) surface. J. Phys. Chem. C 2010, 114, 1934–1941.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Acerbi, N.; Tsang, S. C. E.; Jones, G.; Golunski, S.; Collier, P. Rationalization of interactions in precious metal/ceria catalysts using the d-band center model. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 7737–7741.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Ma, Y. Y.; Gao, W.; Zhang, Z. Y.; Zhang, S.; Tian, Z. M.; Liu, Y. X.; Ho, J. C.; Qu, Y. Q. Regulating the surface of nanoceria and its applications in heterogeneous catalysis. Surf. Sci. Rep. 2018, 73, 1–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Lykhach, Y.; Kozlov, S. M.; Skála, T.; Tovt, A.; Stetsovych, V.; Tsud, N.; Dvořák, F.; Johánek, V.; Neitzel, A.; Mysliveček, J. et al. Counting electrons on supported nanoparticles. Nat. Mater. 2016, 15, 284–288.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Li, S. W.; Xu, Y.; Chen, Y. F.; Li, W. Z.; Lin, L. L.; Li, M. Z.; Deng, Y. C.; Wang, X. P.; Ge, B. H.; Yang, C. et al. Tuning the selectivity of catalytic carbon dioxide hydrogenation over iridium/cerium oxide catalysts with a strong metal-support interaction. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2017, 56, 10761–10765.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Vayssilov, G. N.; Lykhach, Y.; Migani, A.; Staudt, T.; Petrova, G. P.; Tsud, N.; Skála, T.; Bruix, A.; Illas, F.; Prince, K. C. et al. Support nanostructure boosts oxygen transfer to catalytically active platinum nanoparticles. Nat. Mater. 2011, 10, 310–315.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Bruix, A.; Rodriguez, J. A.; Ramírez, P. J.; Senanayake, S. D.; Evans, J.; Park, J. B.; Stacchiola, D.; Liu, P.; Hrbek, J.; Illas, F. A new type of strong metal-support interaction and the production of H2 through the transformation of water on Pt/CeO2(111) and Pt/CeOx/TiO2(110) catalysts. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 8968–8974.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Jones, J.; Xiong, H. F.; DeLaRiva, A. T.; Peterson, E. J.; Pham, H.; Challa, S. R.; Qi, G.; Oh, S.; Wiebenga, M. H.; Pereira Hernández, X. I. et al. Thermally stable single-atom platinum-on-ceria catalysts via atom trapping. Science 2016, 353, 150–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Nie, L.; Mei, D. H.; Xiong, H. F.; Peng, B.; Ren, Z. B.; Pereira Hernández, X. I.; DeLaRiva, A.; Wang, M.; Engelhard, M. H.; Kovarik, L. et al. Activation of surface lattice oxygen in single-atom Pt/CeO2 for low-temperature CO oxidation. Science 2017, 358, 1419–1423.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Chen, J.Y.; Wanyan, Y. J.; Zeng, J. X.; Fang, H. H.; Li, Z. J.; Dong, Y. D.; Qin, R. X.; Wu, C. Z.; Liu, D. Y.; Wang, M. Z. et al. Surface engineering protocol to obtain an atomically dispersed Pt/CeO2 catalyst with high activity and stability for CO oxidation. ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 2018, 6, 14054–14062.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Lee, J.; Ryou, Y.; Kim, J.; Chan, X. J.; Kim, T. J.; Kim, D. H. Influence of the defect concentration of ceria on the Pt dispersion and the CO oxidation activity of Pt/CeO2. J. Phys. Chem. C 2018, 122, 4972–4983.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Lee, J.; Ryou, Y.; Chan, X. J.; Kim, T. J.; Kim, D. H. How Pt interacts with CeO2 under the reducing and oxidizing environments at elevated temperature: The origin of improved thermal stability of Pt/CeO2 compared to CeO2. J. Phys. Chem. C 2016, 120, 25870–25879.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Bruix, A.; Lykhach, Y.; Matolínová, I.; Neitzel, A.; Skála, T.; Tsud, N.; Vorokhta, M.; Stetsovych, V.; Ševčíková, K.; Mysliveček, J. et al. Maximum noble-metal efficiency in catalytic materials: Atomically dispersed surface platinum. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 10525–10530.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Figueroba, A.; Kovács, G.; Bruix, A.; Neyman, K. M. Towards stable single-atom catalysts: Strong binding of atomically dispersed transition metals on the surface of nanostructured ceria. Catal. Sci. Technol. 2016, 6, 6806–6813.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Tang, Y.; Wang, Y. G.; Li, J. Theoretical investigations of Pt1@CeO2 single-atom catalyst for CO oxidation. J. Phys. Chem. C 2017, 121, 11281–11289.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Sun, C. W.; Li, H.; Zhang, H. R.; Wang, Z. X.; Chen, L. Q. Controlled synthesis of CeO2 nanorods by a solvothermal method. Nanotechnology 2005, 16, 1454–1463.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Mai, H. X.; Sun, L. D.; Zhang, Y. W.; Si, R.; Feng, W.; Zhang H. P.; Liu, H. C.; Yan, C. H. Shape-selective synthesis and oxygen storage behavior of ceria nanopolyhedra, nanorods, and nanocubes. J. Phys. Chem. B 2005, 109, 24380–24385.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Pan, C. S.; Zhang, D. S.; Shi, L. Y.; Fang, J. H. Template-free synthesis, controlled conversion, and CO oxidation properties of CeO2 nanorods, nanotubes, nanowires, and nanocubes. Eur. J Inorg. Chem. 2008, 2008, 2429–2436.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Bêche, E.; Charvin, P.; Perarnau, D.; Abanades, S.; Flamant, G. Ce 3d XPS investigation of cerium oxides and mixed cerium oxide (CexTiyOz). Surf. Interf. Anal. 2008, 40, 264–267.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. Bagus, P. S.; Nelin, C. J.; Ilton, E. S.; Baron, M.; Abbott, H.; Primorac, E.; Kuhlenbeck, H.; Shaikhutdinov, S.; Freund, H. J. The complex core level spectra of CeO2: An analysis in terms of atomic and charge transfer effects. Chem. Phys. Lett. 2010, 487, 237–240.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Henderson, M. A.; Perkins, C. L.; Engelhard, M. H.; Thevuthasan, S.; Peden, C. H. F. Redox properties of water on the oxidized and reduced surfaces of CeO2(111). Surf. Sci. 2003, 526, 1–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. Holgado, J. P.; Alvarez, R.; Munuera, G. Study of CeO2 XPS spectra by factor analysis: Reduction of CeO2. Appl. Surf. Sci. 2000, 161, 301–315.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. Ding, K.L; Gulec, A.; Johnson, A. M.; Schweitzer, N. M.; Stucky, G. D.; Marks, L. D.; Stair, P. C. Identification of active sites in CO oxidation and water-gas shift over supported Pt catalysts. Science 2015, 350, 189–192.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Martínez-Arias, A.; Coronado, J. M.; Cataluña, R.; Conesa, J. C.; Soria, J. Influence of mutual platinum-dispersed ceria interactions on the promoting effect of ceria for the CO oxidation reaction in a Pt/CeO2/Al2O3 catalyst. J. Phys. Chem. B 1998, 102, 4357–4365.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Carlsson, P. A.; Österlund, L.; Thormählen, P.; Palmqvist, A.; Fridell, E.; Jansson, J.; Skoglundh, M. A transient in situ FTIR and XANES study of CO oxidation over Pt/Al2O3 catalysts. J. Catal. 2004, 226, 422–434.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  56. Bera, P.; Gayen, A.; Hegde, M. S.; Lalla, N. P.; Spadaro, L.; Frusteri, F.; Arena, F. Promoting effect of CeO2 in combustion synthesized Pt/CeO2 catalyst for CO oxidation. J. Phys. Chem. B 2003, 107, 6122–6130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  57. Dvořák, F.; Camellone, M. F.; Tovt, A.; Tran, N. D.; Negreiros, F. R.; Vorokhta, M.; Skála, T.; Matolínová, I.; Mysliveček, J.; Matolín, V. et al. Creating single-atom Pt-ceria catalysts by surface step decoration. Nat. Commun. 2016, 7, 10801.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  58. Lu, J. L.; Gao, H. J.; Shaikhutdinov, S.; Freund, H. J. Gold supported on well-ordered ceria films: Nucleation, growth and morphology in CO oxidation reaction. Catal. Lett. 2007, 114, 8–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  59. Hu, S. W.; Wang, Y.; Wang, W. J.; Han, Y.; Fan, Q. T.; Feng, X. F.; Xu, Q.; Zhu, J. F. Ag nanoparticles on reducible CeO2(111) thin films: Effect of thickness and stoichiometry of ceria. J. Phys. Chem. C 2015, 119, 3579–3588.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  60. Ke, J.; Zhu, W.; Jiang, Y. Y.; Si, R.; Wang, Y. J.; Li, S. C.; Jin, C. H.; Liu, H. C.; Song, W. G.; Yan, C. H. et al. Strong local coordination structure effects on subnanometer PtOx clusters over CeO2 nanowires probed by low-temperature CO oxidation. ACS Catal. 2015, 5, 5164–5173.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  61. Li, H. L.; Wang, L. B.; Dai, Y. Z.; Pu, Z. T.; Lao, Z. H.; Chen, Y. W.; Wang, M. L.; Zheng, X. S.; Zhu, J. F.; Zhang, W. H. et al. Synergetic interaction between neighbouring platinum monomers in CO2 hydrogenation. Nat. Nanotechnol. 2018, 13, 411–417.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  62. Yoshikawa, K.; Sato, H.; Kaneeda, M.; Kondo, J. N. Synthesis and analysis of CO2 adsorbents based on cerium oxide. J. CO 2 Util. 2014, 8, 34–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  63. Saavedra, J.; Powell, C.; Panthi, B.; Pursell, C. J.; Chandler, B. D. CO oxidation over Au/TiO2 catalyst: Pretreatment effects, catalyst deactivation, and carbonates production. J. Catal. 2013, 307, 37–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21673215 and 21473169), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. WK2060030029), and the Max-Planck Partner Group, Hefei Science Center, CAS, Users with Potential. The authors also gratefully thank the BL10B beamlines at National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (NSRL), China.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Junling Lu.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ye, X., Wang, H., Lin, Y. et al. Insight of the stability and activity of platinum single atoms on ceria. Nano Res. 12, 1401–1409 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-019-2351-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-019-2351-6

Keywords

Navigation