Interface engineering of Ru–Co3O4 nanocomposites for enhancing CO oxidation

Abstract

The interfacial structure plays an important role in heterogeneous catalysis due to its unique electronic structure. However, the design of interfacial structures with high activity remains a challenge because the fundamental nature of the active catalytic sites and the details of the reaction mechanism are still hotly debated. Herein, we combine experiment and density functional theory calculations to reveal the catalytic mechanism for the oxidation of CO by constructing a Ru–Co₃O₄ interface. Experimental results show that CO oxidation can be significantly enhanced at the interface. Density functional theory calculations indicate that this enhancement is attributed to the charge transfer from ruthenium to Co₃O₄. As a result, O₂ is facilely activated by ruthenium with adjacent Co at the interface, hence lowering the activation energy and boosting the catalytic performance of CO oxidation. This study provides a new way to design and develop efficient catalysts by engineering an appropriate interface.