Recently, the issues of environmental pollution and the energy crisis have threatened the health and survival of human being. Nanomaterials used for the remediation of environment and the synthesis of chemical energy source have drawn increasing attention. As an inherently nanoscopic phenomenon, catalysis with important applications in environmental cleaning, energy conversion, and production of new chemicals, has always been an important research direction in the application of nanomaterials. Previously, the research work of CO oxidation was mainly concentrated on the effects of preparative routes and synthesis parameters of catalysts on the catalytic reactions. This review aims at the fundamental topic of CO catalytic oxidation, in which the main impact factors (e.g., dimensions of metal nano-particles on the supports, the interactions between metals and supports, and the roles of support-self) of CO oxidation are taken as the focus, and the developments of the catalytic mechanisms and various catalysts for carbon monoxide (CO) oxidation are summarized. Meanwhile, combining with the latest work in our group, some noteworthy problems about the applications of nano catalytic materials in CO conversion are pointed out. Finally, some suggestions for the preparation of CO oxidation catalysts, and some feasible research directions are put forward. Contents
1 Introduction
2 Catalytic mechanisms for CO oxidation
2.1 Catalytic models of Langmuir-Hinshelwood and Eley-Rideal
2.2 Catalytic mechanism of loaded catalysts with metals
2.3 Catalytic mechanism of metal oxides
3 Research progress of catalysts
3.1 Disperse states of metal particles on supports
3.2 Interactions between metal particles and supports——interfacial interactions
3.3 Roles of metal oxides in catalytic reaction
4 Conclusions and outlook