In situ growth of nanostructured copper and zinc mixed oxides on brass supports as efficient microreactors for the catalytic CO oxidation

Microreactor Based on Trimetallic Nano-Oxides Obtained by In Situ Growth from German Silver

“…It should be noted that the treatment temperature not only modified, as foreseeable the kinetics of the growth of the oxides and, therefore, their size, but also their morphology as observed when comparing the SEM images of Figures 3 and 5. An interesting poin to note is that under identical synthesis conditions, the growths of layered nano-oxides obtained from this alloy were different from those found in brass (Cu:Zn) [29]. In the present case, there remain nanometric and stable surface structures of copper hydroxides.…”

“…Among the analyzed samples, CuZnNi(1)RT stands out since it showed the lowest T 50 (Table 2) in addition to the fact that the preparation of this catalyst implied a short treatment time (1 h) and without any energy consumption. The behavior of this catalytic film stands out if compared with that of similar films obtained by the same method onto copper [28] or brass substrates [29], showing the lowest T 100 and T 50 values as well as the highest Ra value. The high activity of this film is due to highly dispersed small nanometric CuO x and ZnO phases in close contact, which are also firmly stabilized onto the surface of the substrate, probably because they were generated through the direct growth from the substrate itself.…”

“…When such films were placed in a microreactor, a remarkable catalytic performance and stability in the CO oxidation was observed [28]. Recently, nanostructured CuO x -ZnO growths have been obtained from the controlled oxidation of brass substrates, which provide efficient microreactors due to the intimate contact between both nanometric oxide phases [29]. In this scenario, the alloy commercially known as German silver is positioned as an interesting alternative that would make it possible to obtain multi-metallic nano-oxide films.…”