Oyster
shells (OSs) are a kind of reusable resources which are
largely discarded randomly as waste. In this study, we have employed
OSs as rigid supports to fabricate integrated Au/CuO/OS nanocatalysts
by chemical functionalization of the hydrophilic OS surface with 3-mercaptopropionic
acid. The exposed mercapto groups on the OS surface facilitate the
complexation of copper ions during the in situ growth of Cu–BTC
on OSs. Both CuO/OS and Au/CuO/OS obtained after calcination were
evaluated for CO oxidation reaction which exhibited good catalytic
activity with T
100% of 160 and 150 °C,
respectively. More importantly, CuO/OS and Au/CuO/OS have excellent
sintering resistance which can well maintain their original catalytic
activity during 150 h test. The density functional theory calculation
results further indicate the synergistic effects that exist between
CuO and Au during CO adsorption and oxidation. The chemisorption energies
of CO on the catalysts decrease in the following orders, −0.968
eV (CuO/CaCO3) > −1.169 eV (Au/CuO) > −1.618
eV (Au/CuO/CaCO3), suggesting the enhanced adsorption of
CO on Au/CuO/OS. The Bader charge calculation showed that one CO molecule
obtained 0.405 electron from Au/CuO/CaCO3 which was much
higher than those from other catalysts. Therefore, we have developed
a cleaner method for catalyst production by the use of waste OSs.