Strong Metal–Support Interactions between Copper and Iron Oxide during the High‐Temperature Water‐Gas Shift Reaction. Issue 27 (28th May 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhu, Minghui; Tian, Pengfei; Kurtz, Ravi; Lunkenbein, Thomas; Xu, Jing; Schlögl, Robert; Wachs, Israel E.; Han, Yi‐Fan
• Is Part Of: Angewandte Chemie international edition. Volume 58:Issue 27(2019)
• Page Start: 9083
• Page End: 9087
• Publication Date: 2019-05-28
• Subjects: copper -- hydrogen -- iron oxide -- metal–support interactions -- water-gas shift reaction; Chemistry -- Periodicals; 540
• DOI: 10.1002/anie.201903298
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1433-7851

Abstract

Abstract: The commercial high‐temperature water‐gas shift (HT‐WGS) catalyst consists of CuO‐Cr2 O3 ‐Fe2 O3, where Cu functions as a chemical promoter to increase the catalytic activity, but its promotion mechanism is poorly understood. In this work, a series of iron‐based model catalysts were investigated with in situ or pseudo in situ characterization, steady‐state WGS reaction, and density function theory (DFT) calculations. For the first time, a strong metal‐support interaction (SMSI) between Cu and FeO x was directly observed. During the WGS reaction, a thin FeO x overlayer migrates onto the metallic Cu particles, creating a hybrid surface structure with Cu‐FeOx interfaces. The synergistic interaction between Cu and FeOx not only stabilizes the Cu clusters, but also provides new catalytic active sites that facilitate CO adsorption, H2 O dissociation, and WGS reaction. These new fundamental insights can potentially guide the rational design of improved iron‐based HT‐WGS catalysts. Abstract : Strong metal–support interactions between metallic copper and iron oxides were observed during the high‐temperature water‐gas shift (WGS) reaction. Such a synergistic interaction not only stabilizes the Cu clusters, but also provides new catalytic active sites that facilitate CO adsorption, H2 O dissociation, and WGS reaction.