Understanding the Impact of Defects on Catalytic CO Oxidation of LaFeO(3)-Supported Rh, Pd, and Pt Single-Atom Catalysts

[Image: see text] Understanding the intrinsic catalytic properties of perovskite materials can accelerate the development of highly active and abundant complex oxide catalysts. Here, we performed a first-principles density functional theory study combined with a microkinetics analysis to comprehensively investigate the influence of defects on catalytic CO oxidation of LaFeO(3) catalysts containing single atoms of Rh, Pd, and Pt. La defects and subsurface O vacancies considerably affect the local electronic structure of these single atoms adsorbed at the surface or replacing Fe in the surface of the perovskite. As a consequence, not only the stability of the introduced single atoms is enhanced but also the CO and O(2) adsorption energies are modified. This also affects the barriers for CO oxidation. Uniquely, we find that the presence of La defects results in a much higher CO oxidation rate for the doped perovskite surface. A linear correlation between the activation barrier for CO oxidation and the surface O vacancy formation energy for these models is identified. Additionally, the presence of subsurface O vacancies only slightly promotes CO oxidation on the LaFeO(3) surface with an adsorbed Rh atom. Our findings suggest that the introduction of La defects in LaFeO(3)-based environmental catalysts could be a promising strategy toward improved oxidation performance. The insights revealed herein guide the design of the perovskite-based three-way catalyst through compositional variation.