Coordinatively unsaturated ferrous (CUF) sites confined in nanosized matrices are active centers in a wide range of enzyme and homogeneous catalytic reactions. Preparation of the analogous active sites at supported catalysts is of great importance in heterogeneous catalysis but remains a challenge. On the basis of surface science measurements and density functional calculations, we show that the interface confinement effect can be used to stabilize the CUF sites by taking advantage of strong adhesion between ferrous oxides and metal substrates. The interface-confined CUF sites together with the metal supports are active for dioxygen activation, producing reactive dissociated oxygen atoms. We show that the structural ensemble was highly efficient for carbon monoxide oxidation at low temperature under typical operating conditions of a proton-exchange membrane fuel cell.

Graphitic overlayers on metals have commonly been considered as inhibitors for surface reactions due to their chemical inertness and physical blockage of surface active sites. In this work, however, we find that surface reactions, for instance, CO adsorption/desorption and CO oxidation, can take place on Pt(111) surface covered by monolayer graphene sheets. Surface science measurements combined with density functional calculations show that the graphene overlayer weakens the strong interaction between CO and Pt and, consequently, facilitates the CO oxidation with lower apparent activation energy. These results suggest that interfaces between graphitic overlayers and metal surfaces act as 2D confined nanoreactors, in which catalytic reactions are promoted. The finding contrasts with the conventional knowledge that graphitic carbon poisons a catalyst surface but opens up an avenue to enhance catalytic performance through coating of metal catalysts with controlled graphitic covers.arbonaceous deposits such as carbidic carbon and graphitic carbon often form on transition metal (TM) surfaces in catalytic processes involving carbon-containing reactants (1). It has been shown that carbidic species can be involved in some hydrogenation reactions, which are attributed to the observed high reaction activity (2-5). In contrast, graphitic carbon deposited on TM is conventionally considered as catalyst poison due to its chemical inertness and physical blockage of surface active sites (6-8). It has been generally assumed that formation of graphitic carbon on metal catalysts should be avoided before and during catalytic reactions (9, 10). Nevertheless, for decades, extensive research efforts have been made to use surface carbon layers formed on TMs and to understand their role in catalytic reactions (11)(12)(13)(14), which, however, have been impeded by complexity of the ill-defined carbon structures. Graphene, as a simple form of graphitic deposit, has been grown on many late TM surfaces via catalytic cracking of carbon-containing gases (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20). Surface science studies on the well-defined graphene/metal surfaces have shown that gaseous molecules such as CO, O 2 , and H 2 O can be readily intercalated under the graphene overlayers (21-27). Defects in graphene including island edges (22,23,(28)(29)(30), domain boundaries (26,31,32), and wrinkles (33) provide channels for molecule diffusion into the graphene/metal interfaces. These new results raise the intriguing possibility that the space between graphene overlayers and metal substrates can act as a 2D container for reactions. The distance between the graphene overlayers and the metal surfaces typically falls in the subnanometer range (19,20), and molecules trapped inside interact directly with both the graphene cover and the metal substrate. Catalytic reactions, if occurring, are strongly confined in the 2D space, and extraordinary catalytic performance may be expected due to the confinement effect. In the present work, graphene/Pt(111) [Gr/Pt(111)] was used ...