Catalytic oxidation of CO by N2O conducted via the neutral oxide cluster couple VO2/VO3.

Neutral vanadium and cobalt oxide clusters are generated at the same time employing a V-Co mixed target. Experimental results indicate that the reaction VO2 + N2O → VO3 + N2 occurs in a fast flow reactor. This interpretation is further supported for a gas mixture of CO and N2O in the flow cell: regeneration of VO2 is observed for this case via the reaction VO3 + CO → VO2 + CO2. A full catalytic cycle for the reaction N2O + CO → N2 + CO2 is thus complete at room temperature enabled by the VO2/VO3 cluster couple. DFT calculations demonstrate that the entire catalytic process is overall barrierless and reproduce the experimental results quite well.