The effect of defects on the catalytic activity of single Au atom supported carbon nanotubes and reaction mechanism for CO oxidation

molecule. The ER pathway is observed on Au/m-SWCNT, Au/SW-SWCNT and Au/SWCNT in which the Au/m-SWCNT has a smaller barrier. The comparison with a previous study (Lu et al., J. Phys. Chem. C, 2009, 113, 20156-20160.) indicates that the curvature effect of SWCNTs is important for the catalytic property of the supported single Au. Overall, Au/m-SWCNT is identified as the most active catalyst for CO oxidation compared to pristine SWCNT, SW-SWCNT and di-SWCNT. Our findings give a clear description on the relationship between the defects in the support and the catalytic properties of Au and open a new avenue to develop carbon nanomaterial-based single atom catalysts for application in environmental and energy related fields.