Enhancing Catalytic Removal of Autoexhaust Soot Particles via the Modulation of Interfacial Oxygen Vacancies in Cu/CeO₂ Catalysts

The purification efficiency of autoexhaust carbon strongly depends on the heterogeneous interface structure between active metal and oxide, which can modulate the local electronic structure of defect sites to promote the activation of reactant molecules. Herein, the high-dispersion CuO clusters supported on the well-defined CeO₂ nanorods were prepared using the complex deposition slow method. The formation of heteroatomic Cu⁺-O_v-Ce³⁺ interfacial structural units as active sites can capture electrons to achieve activation of the NO and O₂ molecules. Among all of the synthesized catalysts, the Cu₁₀/CeO₂ catalyst exhibits superior catalytic performance (T₅₀ = 351 ^°C) along with remarkable tolerance to H₂O and SO₂ in the removal of soot particles. Through a combination of comprehensive characterizations and density functional theory calculations, it is proposed that the interfacial Cu⁺-O_v-Ce³⁺ site, acting as an electron enrichment center, can capture electrons from the Cu d-band and Ce d/f-band to obtain high delocalized electron density, and then enhance the oxidation of NO to NO₂, which plays a crucial role in the NO_x-assisted catalytic mechanism for soot oxidation. This study presents a novel strategy for developing highly efficient catalysts that exhibit resistance to H₂O and SO₂, aimed at enhancing the removal of soot particles.