Ultrastable Hydroxyapatite/Titanium-Dioxide-Supported Gold Nanocatalyst with Strong Metal-Support Interaction for Carbon Monoxide Oxidation

Abstract

Supported Au nanocatalysts have attracted intensive interest because of their unique catalytic properties. Their poor thermal stability, however, presents a major barrier to the practical applications. Here we report an ultrastable Au nanocatalyst by localizing the Au nanoparticles (NPs) in the interfacial regions between the TiO2 and hydroxyapatite. This unique configuration makes the Au NP surface partially encapsulated due to the strong metal-support interaction and partially exposed and accessible by the reaction molecules. The strong interaction helps stabilizing the Au NPs while the partially exposed Au NP surface provides the active sites for reactions. Such a catalyst not only demonstrated excellent sintering resistance with high activity after calcination at 800 °C but also showed excellent durability that outperforms a commercial three-way catalyst in a simulated practical testing, suggesting great potential for practical applications.

Keywords: gold; heterogeneous catalysis; metal-support interactions; nanoparticles; surface chemistry.