Crystal Plane-Dependent Surface Reactivity and Catalytic Property of Oxide Catalysts Studied with Oxide Nanocrystal Model Catalysts

Oxides are widely used in heterogeneous catalysis, thus fundamental understanding of structure-activity relationships of oxide catalysts is of great importance for the improvement and design of efficient catalysts. Recently the synthesis of oxide nanocrystals with uniform and well-defined structures has achieved great progress, and these oxide nanocrystals consist of a novel type of model catalysts for oxide catalysts. Employing oxide nanocrystal model catalysts, crystal plane-dependent surface reactivity and catalytic property of oxide catalysts have been successfully revealed. The recent progress is reviewed in this article and two systems are highlighted. One is cuprous oxide whose crystal planes affect the surface reactivity and catalytic property dominantly by crystal plane-dependent surface composition and structure; the other is ceria whose crystal planes affect the surface reactivity and catalytic property dominantly by crystal plane-dependent concentration and type of oxygen vacancy.