Structure-activity relationship of supported Au catalysts with high catalytic activity by modifying the inactive supports

Three supported Au catalysts have been prepared by the deposition-precipitation method by using the active carbon (AC), SiO2-AC, and SiO2-AC-hollowed. The 3 supports were characterized by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller and scanning electron microscopy. Meanwhile, the supported Au nanoparticles were also characterized in detail by X-ray powder diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, H-2-TRP, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and their catalytic activity and stability in CO oxidation was evaluated. The results demonstrated that Au supported on SiO2-AC-hollowed exhibited much higher catalytic activity with acceptable stability for 72hours than the other 2. We attributed to finer supported Au nanoparticles with abundant low-coordinated Au atoms on the surfaces of hollowed supports with large special surface area and abundant pore structure. In summary, we successfully found an efficient and cheap method to prepare catalysts with high catalytic activity and acceptable stability by modifying the inactive supports.