Atomic Pt Sites Anchored in the Interface Between Grains on Vacancy-Enriched CeO 2 Nanosheets: One-Step Precursor Combustion Synthesis.

Atomic metal catalysts have unique electronic, structural and catalytic properties, which have been widely used in the field of catalysis. However, designing new simple synthesis methods to fabricate atomic metal catalysts is a challenge in catalytic applications. Herein, one-step precursor combustion strategy is presented that starts directly from precursors of metal salts, using spontaneous combustion process convert platinum nitrate to atomic Pt sites. The atomic Pt sites with the low valence are anchored in the formed interface between grains on vacancy-enriched CeO 2 nanosheets. The obtained Pt/CeO 2 -2 catalyst exhibits much higher three-way catalytic activities at low temperature than Pt/CeO 2 -C catalysts prepared using traditional impregnation method. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that the generated lower valent Pt atoms in the CeO 2 interface promote catalytic activity through reducing the energy barrier, and lead to an overall improvement of three-way catalytic activities. This facile strategy provides new insights to study the properties and applications of atomic noble metal catalysts. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.