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Strong Metal–Support Interactions between Copper and Iron Oxide during the High‐Temperature Water‐Gas Shift Reaction
Author(s) -
Zhu Minghui,
Tian Pengfei,
Kurtz Ravi,
Lunkenbein Thomas,
Xu Jing,
Schlögl Robert,
Wachs Israel E.,
Han YiFan
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201903298
Subject(s) - overlayer , water gas shift reaction , catalysis , adsorption , metal , density functional theory , dissociation (chemistry) , copper , water gas , chemistry , iron oxide , work function , oxide , inorganic chemistry , chemical engineering , chemical physics , computational chemistry , syngas , biochemistry , organic chemistry , engineering
The commercial high‐temperature water‐gas shift (HT‐WGS) catalyst consists of CuO‐Cr 2 O 3 ‐Fe 2 O 3 , 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‐FeO x interfaces. The synergistic interaction between Cu and FeO x not only stabilizes the Cu clusters, but also provides new catalytic active sites that facilitate CO adsorption, H 2 O dissociation, and WGS reaction. These new fundamental insights can potentially guide the rational design of improved iron‐based HT‐WGS catalysts.