Neighboring sp-Hybridized Carbon Participated Molecular Oxygen Activation on the Interface of Sub-nanocluster CuO/Graphdiyne

Activation of O₂ is a crucial step in oxidation processes. Here, the concept of sp-hybridized C≡C triple bonds as an electron donor is adopted to develop highly active and stable catalysts for molecular oxygen activation. We demonstrate that the neighboring sp-hybridized C and Cu sites on the interface of the sub-nanocluster CuO/graphdiyne are the key structures to effectively modulate the O₂ activation process in the bridging adsorption mode. The as-prepared sub-nanocluster CuO/graphdiyne catalyst exhibited the highest CO oxidation activity and readily converted 50% CO at around 133 °C, which is 34 and 94 °C lower than that for CuO/graphene and CuO/active carbon catalysts, respectively. In situ diffused reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy and density functional theory calculation results proved that the neighboring sp-hybridized C is more favorable to promote the rapid dissociation of carbonate than sp²-hybridized C without overcoming any energy barrier. The gaseous CO directly reacts with the active molecular oxygen and tends to proceed through the E-R mechanism with a relatively low energy barrier (0.20 eV). This work revealed that sp-hybridized C of graphdiyne-based materials could effectively improve the O₂ activation efficiency, which could facilitate the low-temperature oxidation processes.