title: Crystal-plane-controlled selectivity of Cu(2)O catalysts in propylene oxidation with molecular oxygen.
abstract: The selective oxidation of propylene with O2 to propylene oxide and acrolein is of great interest and importance. We report the crystal-plane-controlled selectivity of uniform capping-ligand-free Cu2 O octahedra, cubes, and rhombic dodecahedra in catalyzing propylene oxidation with O2 : Cu2 O octahedra exposing {111} crystal planes are most selective for acrolein; Cu2 O cubes exposing {100} crystal planes are most selective for CO2 ; Cu2 O rhombic dodecahedra exposing {110} crystal planes are most selective for propylene oxide. One-coordinated Cu on Cu2 O(111), three-coordinated O on Cu2 O(110), and two-coordinated O on Cu2 O(100) were identified as the catalytically active sites for the production of acrolein, propylene oxide, and CO2 , respectively. These results reveal that crystal-plane engineering of oxide catalysts could be a useful strategy for developing selective catalysts and for gaining fundamental understanding of complex heterogeneous catalytic reactions at the molecular level.
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Jinzhai Road 96, Hefei 230026 (China).
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Hua
authors.forename: Tian
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Xiang-Kui
authors.initials: XK
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.forename: Jiqing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Zhiquan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Xiaorong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Liangfeng
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Wei-Xue
authors.initials: WX
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Weixin
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Huang
keywords: active sites; nanocatalysis; oxide catalysts; reaction mechanisms; surface chemistry