Interfacial engineering enables surface lattice oxygen activation of SmMn2O5 for catalytic propane combustion

Surface lattice oxygen (O latt ) over transition metal oxides plays a pivotal role in catalytic combustion of automobile exhaust. The insufficient O latt activity at low temperatures, however, remains the key problem restricting its practical application. To overcome this deficiency, we activated the O latt of mullite SmMn 2 O 5 through the interface fabrication with spinel Co 3 O 4 . The optimized Co 3 O 4 /SmMn 2 O 5 catalyst exhibited 90% conversion at 247 °C for the typical automobile exhaust propane combustion, 77 °C lower than the original SmMn 2 O 5 . Additionally, Co 3 O 4 /SmMn 2 O 5 showed extremely high stability even under harsh operating temperature (e.g., 800 °C). Experimental and theoretical calculation results revealed that the regulated interface of Co 3 O 4 /SmMn 2 O 5 facilitated the electrons transfer from SmMn 2 O 5 to Co 3 O 4 , contributing to the enhanced propane adsorption and catalytic oxidation activity due to the formation of electrophilic oxygen in SmMn 2 O 5 around the interface. This work can provide a basic understanding of the O latt activation for developing efficient automobile exhaust combustion catalysts.