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Title: Dynamic Copper Site Redispersion through Atom Trapping in Zeolite Defects

Journal Article · · Journal of the American Chemical Society
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [1];  [3]; ORCiD logo [4];  [5];  [6]; ORCiD logo [6];  [3]; ORCiD logo [7]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [5];  [6]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [8]
  1. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  2. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  3. Univ. of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL (United States)
  4. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS)
  5. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States). Catalytic Carbon Transformation and Scale-Up Center
  6. Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
  7. United States Military Academy, West Point, NY (United States)
  8. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Zhejiang Univ., Hangzhou (China)

Single-site copper-based catalysts have shown remarkable activity and selectivity for a variety of reactions. However, deactivation by sintering in high-temperature reducing environments remains a challenge and often limits their use due to irreversible structural changes to the catalyst. Here, we report zeolite-based copper catalysts in which copper oxide agglomerates formed after reaction can be repeatedly redispersed back to single sites using an oxidative treatment in air at 550 °C. Under different environments, single-site copper in Cu–Zn–Y/deAlBeta undergoes dynamic changes in structure and oxidation state that can be tuned to promote the formation of key active sites while minimizing deactivation through Cu sintering. For example, single-site Cu2+ reduces to Cu1+ after catalyst pretreatment (270 °C, 101 kPa H2) and further to Cu0 nanoparticles under reaction conditions (270–350 °C, 7 kPa EtOH, 94 kPa H2) or accelerated aging (400–450 °C, 101 kPa H2). After regeneration at 550 °C in air, agglomerated CuO was dispersed back to single sites in the presence and absence of Zn and Y, which was verified by imaging, in situ spectroscopy, and catalytic rate measurements. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulations show that solvation of CuO monomers by water facilitates their transport through the zeolite pore, and condensation of the CuO monomer with a fully protonated silanol nest entraps copper and reforms the single-site structure. Importantly, the capability of silanol nests to trap and stabilize copper single sites under oxidizing conditions could extend the use of single-site copper catalysts to a wider variety of reactions and allows for a simple regeneration strategy for copper single-site catalysts.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Office of Sustainable Transportation. Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Scientific User Facilities (SUF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Chemical Sciences, Geosciences & Biosciences Division (CSGB)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308; AC05-00OR22725; AC05-76RL01830; AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
2329427
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 2333816; OSTI ID: 2426579; OSTI ID: 2480849
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA--5100-88020; MainId:88795; UUID:2e25e799-3cdd-422a-8567-b6736e2257af; MainAdminId:72194
Journal Information:
Journal of the American Chemical Society, Journal Name: Journal of the American Chemical Society Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 146; ISSN 0002-7863
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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