Hollow Porous Carbon with in situ Generated Monodisperse Gold Nanoclusters for Efficient CO Oxidation

Abstract Precious metals (Au and Pt) loaded in a mesoporous substrate (carbon and silicon) are popular materials for catalytic CO oxidation. However, the preparation of noble metals and the metal particle size after deposition in the pore channels of the mesoporous materials are serious issues for environmentally friendly applications. Herein, a gold‐decorated hollow porous carbon nanospheres (Au/HPCN) catalyst, which is both durable and uniform, is synthesized by a facile in situ reduction route for continuous CO oxidation. In our approach, HPCNs were selected as the substrate because of their thermal stability, well‐defined nanostructure, and large surface area. Au nanoclusters were loaded in the pore channels of HPCN because of their stability and catalytic performance. The as‐synthesized nanocomposite possesses a uniform size and highly porous structure. Moreover, CO oxidation occurred both during the reduction of Au 3+ ions and after the preparation of Au/HPCN.