Copper Nanowires as Catalysts for CO Oxidation

Journal of Surface Investigation: X-Ray, Synchrotron and Neutron Techniques. 2021. Vol. 15. No. 6. P. 1264–1269.

Panov D., Bichkov V. Y., Tulenin Y. P., Zagorskiy D. L., Kanevskiy V. M., Volchkov I. S.

It is shown that copper films with copper nanowires located on them demonstrate enhancement of the catalytic effect during copper-oxide oxidation. Nanowires of different types (cylindrical and conical ones and arrays between two surfaces) are compared. It is revealed that the largest effect (an increase in the degree of oxidation by 60–70%) is achieved in the case of cylindrical nanowires. The effect is observed at rather low temperatures of 200–350°С. The study using scanning electron microscopy reveals the significant thickening of nanowires after catalysis because of the formation of oxides. Oxygen and carbon are found on their surfaces as a result of elemental analysis. The formation of oxides of two types during catalysis is established using X‑ray phase analysis. It is also shown that the array of nanowires degrades during prolonged catalysis. The subsequent standard reduction process does not return the nanowires to their original form.

Keywords: нанотехнологии, nanotechnology, физика конденсированного состояния, Physics of Condensed Matter, CO oxidation, Окисление CO