Single copper sites dispersed on metal-organic frameworks boost the degradation of nerve agent simulants

Abstract

The detoxification of nerve agents, a class of extremely toxic chemical warfare agents, is urgently needed because they have remained a threat to humanity. To date, zirconium-based metal-organic frameworks (Zr-MOFs) are the most popular catalysts in this realm. However, it is still essential to develop new and efficient catalysts based on Zr-MOFs to achieve more rapid hydrolysis. Herein, we report that the single-atom catalyst (SAC) with Cu single atoms on a UiO-66-NH 2 support (Cu@UiO-66-NH 2 ) could significantly boost the degradation of the nerve agent simulant. Compared with the pristine UiO-66-NH 2 , this SAC exhibited remarkable catalytic activity with a half-life for hydrolysis of ~2 min and better reusability in cyclic experiments. Both experimental and theoretical studies suggest that the atomically dispersed Cu species anchored to the amino groups rather than to the Zr 6 node of UiO-66-NH 2 acted as the catalytic active sites, leading to favorable binding geometries with the substrate and the product. A catalytic mechanism on the SAC different from that generally considered on the pristine Zr-MOFs was thus presented to elucidate the enhanced catalytic efficiency.