Zeolite-promoted platinum catalyst for efficient reduction of nitrogen oxides with hydrogen.

Xie, Shaohua; Liu, Liping; Li, Yuejin; Ye, Kailong; Kim, Daekun; Zhang, Xing; Xin, Hongliang; Ma, Lu et al. · Nat Commun · 2024

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Internal combustion engine fueled by carbon-free hydrogen (H<sub>2</sub>-ICE) offers a promising alternative for sustainable transportation. Herein, we report a facile and universal strategy through the physical mixing of Pt catalyst with zeolites to significantly improve the catalytic performance in the selective catalytic reduction of nitrogen oxides (NO<sub>x</sub>) with H<sub>2</sub> (H<sub>2</sub>-SCR), a process aiming at NO<sub>x</sub> removal from H<sub>2</sub>-ICE. Via the physical mixing of Pt/TiO<sub>2</sub> with Y zeolite (Pt/TiO<sub>2</sub> + Y), a remarkable enhancement of NO<sub>x</sub> reduction activity and N<sub>2</sub> selectivity was simultaneously achieved. The incorporation of Y zeolite effectively captured the in-situ generated water, fostering a water-rich environment surrounding the Pt active sites. This environment weakened the NO adsorption while concurrently promoting the H<sub>2</sub> activation, leading to the strikingly elevated H<sub>2</sub>-SCR activity and N<sub>2</sub> selectivity on Pt/TiO<sub>2</sub> + Y catalyst. This study provides a unique, easy and sustainable physical mixing approach to achieve proficient heterogeneous catalysis for environmental applications.