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Updated: Jun 29, 2025

Synthesis and Performance Characterizations of Transition Metal Single Atom Catalyst for Electrochemical CO2 Reduction
Published on: April 10, 2018
High-Performance Ir1/CeO2 Single-Atom Catalyst for the Oxidation of Toluene
Zhiqiang Wang1, Xiaomei Zhou2, Gehui Wang1
1State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Vehicle Emissions Control, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China.
Abstract:
The elimination of toluene is an obligatory target with increasing VOC emission in recent years. This study successfully prepared a single-atom Ir catalyst (Ir1/CeO2) by a simple incipient wetness impregnation method, confirmed by in situ CO DRIFTS and AC-HAADF-STEM. Compared to the cluster Ir catalyst (Ir/CeO2-C), Ir1/CeO2 exhibited excellent catalytic performance, stability, and water resistance for the oxidation of toluene. By Raman, H2-TPR, O2-TPD, and XPS experiments, abundant oxygen defects and a unique Ir3+-Ov-Ce3+ structure were formed for the Ir1/CeO2 sample because it had a lower oxygen vacancy formation energy. Furthermore, the DFT results revealed that the Ir1/CeO2 sample had a lower ring-opening energy barrier and adsorption energy of the ring-opening products, which was the rate-determining step for the oxidation of toluene. This work provides instructive insights into the construction of Ir/CeO2 catalysts for the highly efficient removal of VOCs.
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