Complete CO oxidation over Cu2O nanoparticles supported on silica gel.

We find that nearly monodisperse copper oxide nanoparticles prepared via the thermal decomposition of a Cu(I) precursor exhibit exceptional activity toward CO oxidation in CO/O2/N2 mixtures. Greater than 99.5% conversion of CO to CO2 could be achieved at temperatures less than 250 degrees C for over 12 h. In addition, the phase diagram and pathway for CO oxidation on Cu2O (100) is computed by ab initio methods and found to be in qualitative agreement with the experimental findings.