Acetonitrile Combustion over Copper-Based Nanocatalysts: A Structure-Performance Relationship Study

In this paper, the relationship between activity and structure of Cu2+ in different chemical environments of Cu-BETA, La2CuO4, and CuO nanocatalysts was systematically investigated for acetonitrile combustion. The study revealed that exchanged and octahedral species of Cu2+ coexist in Cu-BETA, while octahedral species are dominant in CuO and La2CuO4. All nanocatalysts achieved high conversion rates of acetonitrile, which rapidly increased with temperature. CuO and La2CuO4 led to the formation of undesired products such as N2O and NO. On the other hand, Cu-BETA showed high acetonitrile conversion along with a high N2 yield. The excellent performance of Cu-BETA can be attributed to the easy reducibility of the highly dispersed Cu-species and the small crystallite size. Cu-BETA also exhibited exceptional stability. Therefore, the high conversion rate and the high N2 yield make Cu-BETA a promising catalyst for acetonitrile combustion.