Synthesis of silica supported AuCu nanoparticle catalysts and the effects of pretreatment conditions for the CO oxidation reaction

Supported gold nanoparticles have generated an immense interest in the field of catalysis due to their extremely high reactivity and selectivity. Recently, alloy nanoparticles of gold have received a lot of attention due to their enhanced catalytic properties. Here we report the synthesis of silica supported AuCu nanoparticles through the conversion of supported Au nanoparticles in a solution of Cu(C2H3O2)(2) at 300 degrees C. The AuCu alloy structure was confirmed through powder XRD (which indicated a weakly ordered alloy phase), XANES, and EXAFS. It was also shown that heating the AuCu/SiO2 in an O-2 atmosphere segregated the catalyst into a Au-CuOx heterostructure between 150 degrees C to 240 degrees C. Heating the catalyst in H-2 at 300 degrees C reduced the CuOx back to Cu-0 to reform the AuCu alloy phase. It was found that the AuCu/SiO2 catalysts were inactive for CO oxidation. However, various pretreatment conditions were required to form a highly active and stable Au-CuOx/SiO2 catalyst to achieve 100% CO conversion below room-temperature. This is explained by the in situ FTIR result, which shows that CO molecules can be chemisorbed and activated only on the Au-CuOx/SiO2 catalyst but not on the AuCu/SiO2 catalyst.