Crystal‐Plane‐Controlled Selectivity of Cu2O Catalysts in Propylene Oxidation with Molecular Oxygen |
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| Authors: | Dr Zhiquan Jiang Xiaorong Pan Liangfeng Luo Prof?Dr Wei‐Xue Li Prof?Dr Weixin Huang |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Jinzhai Road 96, Hefei 230026 (China);2. Institute of Physical Chemistry, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004 (China);3. State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhongshan Road 457, Dalian 116023 (China) |
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| Abstract: | The selective oxidation of propylene with O2 to propylene oxide and acrolein is of great interest and importance. We report the crystal‐plane‐controlled selectivity of uniform capping‐ligand‐free Cu2O octahedra, cubes, and rhombic dodecahedra in catalyzing propylene oxidation with O2: Cu2O octahedra exposing {111} crystal planes are most selective for acrolein; Cu2O cubes exposing {100} crystal planes are most selective for CO2; Cu2O rhombic dodecahedra exposing {110} crystal planes are most selective for propylene oxide. One‐coordinated Cu on Cu2O(111), three‐coordinated O on Cu2O(110), and two‐coordinated O on Cu2O(100) were identified as the catalytically active sites for the production of acrolein, propylene oxide, and CO2, respectively. These results reveal that crystal‐plane engineering of oxide catalysts could be a useful strategy for developing selective catalysts and for gaining fundamental understanding of complex heterogeneous catalytic reactions at the molecular level. |
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| Keywords: | active sites nanocatalysis oxide catalysts reaction mechanisms surface chemistry |
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