Rh single atoms on TiO2 dynamically respond to reaction conditions by adapting their site

Yan Tang, Chithra Asokan, Mingjie Xu, George W. Graham, Xiaoqing Pan, Phillip Christopher, Jun Li () and Philippe Sautet ()
Additional contact information
Yan Tang: Tsinghua University
Chithra Asokan: University of California, Santa Barbara
Mingjie Xu: University of California Irvine
George W. Graham: University of California Irvine
Xiaoqing Pan: University of California Irvine
Phillip Christopher: University of California, Santa Barbara
Jun Li: Tsinghua University
Philippe Sautet: University of California, Los Angeles

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Single-atom catalysts are widely investigated heterogeneous catalysts; however, the identification of the local environment of single atoms under experimental conditions, as well as operando characterization of their structural changes during catalytic reactions are still challenging. Here, the preferred local coordination of Rh single atoms is investigated on TiO2 during calcination in O2, reduction in H2, CO adsorption, and reverse water gas shift (RWGS) reaction conditions. Theoretical and experimental studies clearly demonstrate that Rh single atoms adapt their local coordination and reactivity in response to various redox conditions. Single-atom catalysts hence do not have static local coordinations, but can switch from inactive to active structure under reaction conditions, hence explaining some conflicting literature accounts. The combination of approaches also elucidates the structure of the catalytic active site during reverse water gas shift. This insight on the real nature of the active site is key for the design of high-performance catalysts.

Date: 2019
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-12461-6 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-12461-6

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-12461-6

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().