Size Effect of Ruthenium Nanoparticles in Catalytic Carbon Monoxide Oxidation

Carbon monoxide oxidation over ruthenium catalysts has shown an unusual catalytic behavior. Here we report a particle size effect on CO oxidation over Ru nanoparticle (NP) catalysts. Uniform Ru NPs with a tunable particle size from 2 to 6 nm were synthesized by a polyol reduction of Ru(acac)(3) precursor in the presence of poly(vinylpyrrolidone) stabilizer. The measurement of catalytic activity of CO oxidation over two-dimensional Ru NPs arrays under oxidizing reaction conditions (40 Torr CO and 100 Torr O(2)) showed an activity dependence on the Ru NP size. The CO oxidation activity increases with NP size, and the 6 nm Ru NP catalyst shows 8-fold higher activity than the 2 nm catalysts. The results gained from this study will provide the scientific basis for future design of Ru-based oxidation catalysts.