Plasma-assisted manipulation of vanadia nanoclusters for efficient selective catalytic reduction of NO<sub>x</sub>.

Yin, Yong; Luo, Bingcheng; Li, Kezhi; Moskowitz, Benjamin M; Mosevitzky Lis, Bar; Wachs, Israel E; Zhu, Minghui; Sun, Ye et al. · Nat Commun · 2024

basic_science · Level V

Where this comes from

Abstract

Supported nanoclusters (SNCs) with distinct geometric and electronic structures have garnered significant attention in the field of heterogeneous catalysis. However, their directed synthesis remains a challenge due to limited efficient approaches. This study presents a plasma-assisted treatment strategy to achieve supported metal oxide nanoclusters from a rapid transformation of monomeric dispersed metal oxides. As a case study, oligomeric vanadia-dominated surface sites were derived from the classic supported V<sub>2</sub>O<sub>5</sub>-WO<sub>3</sub>/TiO<sub>2</sub> (VWT) catalyst and showed nearly an order of magnitude increase in turnover frequency (TOF) value via an H<sub>2</sub>-plasma treatment for selective catalytic reduction of NO with NH<sub>3</sub>. Such oligomeric surface VO<sub>x</sub> sites were not only successfully observed and firstly distinguished from WO<sub>x</sub> and TiO<sub>2</sub> by advanced electron microscopy, but also facilitated the generation of surface amide and nitrates intermediates that enable barrier-less steps in the SCR reaction as observed by modulation excitation spectroscopy technologies and predicted DFT calculations.