A single site ruthenium catalyst for robust soot oxidation without platinum or palladium

Abstract The quest for efficient non-Pt/Pd catalysts has proved to be a formidable challenge for auto-exhaust purification. Herein, we present an approach to construct a robust catalyst by embedding single-atom Ru sites onto the surface of CeO 2 through a gas bubbling-assisted membrane deposition method. The formed single-atom Ru sites, which occupy surface lattice sites of CeO 2 , can improve activation efficiency for NO and O 2 . Remarkably, the Ru 1 /CeO 2 catalyst exhibits exceptional catalytic performance and stability during auto-exhaust carbon particle oxidation (soot), rivaling commercial Pt-based catalysts. The turnover frequency (0.218 h −1 ) is a nine-fold increase relative to the Ru nanoparticle catalyst. We further show that the strong interfacial charge transfer within the atomically dispersed Ru active site greatly enhances the rate-determining step of NO oxidation, resulting in a substantial reduction of the apparent activation energy during soot oxidation. The single-atom Ru catalyst represents a step toward reducing dependence on Pt/Pd-based catalysts.