Catalytic Oxidation of Propane and Carbon Monoxide by Pd Nanoparticles on Mn/TiO2 Catalysts

Abstract

The present work shows experimental results on the catalytic oxidation of C3H8 and CO by Pd nanoparticles supported on MnOx/TiO2 synthesized by the sol–gel method. The results show a strong interaction between Pd and MnOx/TiO2; likewise, the annealing temperature of the TiO2 support modified the catalytic properties of the Pd–MnOx/TiO2 catalyst. In this line, the catalysts with 1 and 2 wt% of Pd loading supported on MnOx/TiO2 showed outstanding catalytic activity oxidizing C3H8 and CO within two temperature intervals: 200–400 °C and 25–200 °C, respectively. The Pd–MnOx/TiO2 catalyst also displayed very high stability during long-term tests and the addition of Pd nanoparticles reduced greatly the oxidation temperature of MnOx/TiO2. The outcomes revealed that the Pd–Mn interaction promoted the formation of new Pd0/Pd2+ active sites as well as the formation of oxygen vacancies and reduced Ti4+ to Ti3+ species, which led to the improvement of the Mn3+ and Mn4+ redox features, thus boosting the catalytic oxidation capacity of the Pd–MnOx/TiO2 catalyst. Graphical Abstract