In a study published in Nature Communications, Prof. HUANG's team constructed fine cubic Cu2O nanocrystals that enabled high selectivity catalysis for propylene epoxidation, and demonstrated the mechanism that endowed Cu2O nanocrystal with such enhanced catalytic performance.
Utilizing the size effect, the researchers synthesized Cu2O cubes with an average size of 27 nm, which showed an outstanding PO selectivity at a relatively low temperature. It was confirmed that the abundant Cu2O{110} site was the active site for PO production.
Further investigations into the catalytic mechanism showed a temperature-dependent behavior for the catalyst. Under low temperatures, the reaction was dominated by Langmuir-Hinshelwood (LH) mechanism, in which weakly adsorbed O2 species served as active oxygen species. Under high temperatures, Mars-van Krevelen (MvK) mechanism played the major role. CO2 and acrolein were also formed as by-products, which undermined the PO selectivity of the catalyst.
The development of the catalyst with high PO selectivity in propylene epoxidation offers a new approach to designing efficient catalyst for propylene epoxidation.
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