Controlling the Phase Transformation of Alumina for Enhanced Stability and Catalytic Properties.

Current transition alumina catalysts require the presence of significant amounts of toxic, environmentally deleterious dopants for their stabilization. Herein, we report a simple and novel strategy to engineer transition aluminas to withstand aging temperatures up to 1200 °C without inducing the transformation to low-surface-area α-Al2O3 and without requiring dopants. By judiciously optimizing the abundance of dominant facets and the interparticle distance, we can control the temperature of the phase transformation from θ-Al2O3 to α-Al2O3 and the specific surface sites on the latter. These specific surface sites provide favorable interactions with supported metal catalysts, leading to improved metal dispersion and greatly enhanced catalytic activity for hydrocarbon oxidation. The results presented herein not only provide molecular-level insights into the critical factors causing deactivation and phase transformation of aluminas but also pave the way for the development of catalysts with improved activity for catalytic hydrocarbon oxidation.

Key Role of a-Top CO on Terrace Sites of Metallic Pd Clusters for CO Oxidation.

Pd-based catalysts are the most widely used for CO oxidation because of their outstanding catalytic activity and thermal stability. However, fundamental understanding of the detailed catalytic processes occurring on Pd-based catalysts under realistic conditions is still lacking. In this study, we investigated CO oxidation on metallic Pd clusters supported on Al2 O3 and SiO2 . High-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy revealed the formation of similar-sized Pd clusters on Al2 O3 and SiO2 . In contrast, CO chemisorption analysis indicated a gradual change in the dispersion of Pd (from 0.79 to 0.2) on Pd/Al2 O3 and a marginal change in the dispersion (from 0.4 to 0.24) on Pd/SiO2 as the Pd loading increased from 0.27 to 5.5 wt %; these changes were attributed to differences in the metal-support interactions. Diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier-transform spectroscopy revealed that fewer a-top CO species were present in Pd supported on Al2 O3 than those in Pd supported on SiO2 , which is related to the morphological differences in the metallic Pd clusters on these two supports. Despite the different dispersion profiles and surface characteristics of Pd, O2 titration demonstrated that linearly bound CO (with an infrared signal at 2090 cm-1 ) reacted first with oxygen in the case of CO-saturated Pd on Al2 O3 and SiO2 , which suggests that a-top CO on the terrace site plays an important role in CO oxidation. The experimental observations were corroborated by periodic density functional calculations, which confirmed that CO oxidation on the (111) terrace sites is most plausible, both kinetically and thermodynamically, compared to that on the edge or corner sites. This study will deepen the fundamental understanding of the effect of Pd clusters on CO oxidation under reaction conditions.

Low-temperature carbon monoxide oxidation catalysed by regenerable atomically dispersed palladium on alumina.

Catalysis by single isolated atoms of precious metals has attracted much recent interest, as it promises the ultimate in atom efficiency. Most previous reports are on reducible oxide supports. Here we show that isolated palladium atoms can be catalytically active on industrially relevant γ-alumina supports. The addition of lanthanum oxide to the alumina, long known for its ability to improve alumina stability, is found to also help in the stabilization of isolated palladium atoms. Aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy and operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy confirm the presence of intermingled palladium and lanthanum on the γ-alumina surface. Carbon monoxide oxidation reactivity measurements show onset of catalytic activity at 40 °C. The catalyst activity can be regenerated by oxidation at 700 °C in air. The high-temperature stability and regenerability of these ionic palladium species make this catalyst system of potential interest for low-temperature exhaust treatment catalysts.

Two different cationic positions in Cu-SSZ-13?

H(2)-TPR and FTIR were used to characterize the nature of the Cu ions present in the Cu-SSZ-13 zeolite at different ion exchange levels. The results obtained are consistent with the presence of Cu ions at two distinct cationic positions in the SSZ-13 framework.