Promotion effect of CO oxidation via activation of surface lattice oxygen by single atom Cu/MnO2 catalyst

•Single-atom Cu/MnO2 is a low-cost and high-performance catalysts for CO oxidation.•Atomically dispersed Cu is anchored on the MnO2 support via a simple hydrothermal method.•The SMSI between the single atom Cu and the support can effectively suppress the aggregation of Cu single atoms.•The surface lattice oxygen was activated by the introduction of Cu greatly promoted the CO catalytic performance. The catalytic oxidation of CO by single-atom transition metal catalysts has always been the focus of researchers. Herein, we report a strategy for the preparation of Cu single-atom anchored on MnO2 by oxalate chelation-assisted hydrothermal method, and the obtained Cu/MnO2–0.25 catalyst with the optimal molar ratio achieved about 90% CO conversion at 80 °C. The strong electronic interaction between Cu and MnO2 not only effectively inhibits the aggregation of Cu single atoms, but also the formed Cu-O-Mn hybrid structure activates the adjacent surface lattice oxygen, further improving the catalytic oxidation performance of CO at low and medium temperatures. The elevated activity is achieved at the single-atom active site by the Mars-van Krevelen (MvK) mechanism. This work provides a simple and reliable method for the rational design of stable transition metal single-atom catalysts and deepens the understanding of metal-support strong interactions (SMSI). [Display omitted]