Issue 10, 2018

Gold nanoparticles supported on mesoporous iron oxide for enhanced CO oxidation reaction

Abstract

Herein, we report the synthesis of gold (Au)-loaded mesoporous iron oxide (Fe2O3) as a catalyst for both CO and NH3 oxidation. The mesoporous Fe2O3 is firstly prepared using polymeric micelles made of an asymmetric triblock copolymer poly(styrene-b-acrylic acid-b-ethylene glycol) (PS-b-PAA-b-PEG). Owing to its unique porous structure and large surface area (87.0 m2 g−1), the as-prepared mesoporous Fe2O3 can be loaded with a considerably higher amount of Au nanoparticles (Au NPs) (7.9 wt%) compared to the commercial Fe2O3 powder (0.8 wt%). Following the Au loading, the mesoporous Fe2O3 structure is still well-retained and Au NPs with varying sizes of 3–10 nm are dispersed throughout the mesoporous support. When evaluated for CO oxidation, the Au-loaded mesoporous Fe2O3 catalyst shows up to 20% higher CO conversion efficiency compared to the commercial Au/Fe2O3 catalyst, especially at lower temperatures (25–150 °C), suggesting the promising potential of this catalyst for low-temperature CO oxidation. Furthermore, the Au-loaded mesoporous Fe2O3 catalyst also displays a higher catalytic activity for NH3 oxidation with a respectable conversion efficiency of 37.4% compared to the commercial Au/Fe2O3 catalyst (15.6%) at 200 °C. The significant enhancement in the catalytic performance of the Au-loaded mesoporous Fe2O3 catalyst for both CO and NH3 oxidation may be attributed to the improved dispersion of the Au NPs and enhanced diffusivity of the reactant molecules due to the presence of mesopores and a higher oxygen activation rate contributed by the increased number of active sites, respectively.

Graphical abstract: Gold nanoparticles supported on mesoporous iron oxide for enhanced CO oxidation reaction

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
29 Nov 2017
Accepted
23 Jan 2018
First published
22 Feb 2018

Nanoscale, 2018,10, 4779-4785

Gold nanoparticles supported on mesoporous iron oxide for enhanced CO oxidation reaction

S. Tanaka, J. Lin, Y. V. Kaneti, S. Yusa, Y. Jikihara, T. Nakayama, M. B. Zakaria, A. A. Alshehri, J. You, Md. S. A. Hossain and Y. Yamauchi, Nanoscale, 2018, 10, 4779 DOI: 10.1039/C7NR08895G

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements