Noble Metal Nanoparticles Decorated Boron Nitride Nanotubes for Efficient and Selective Low-Temperature Catalytic Reduction of Nitric Oxide with Carbon Monoxide

Parallel to CO2 emission, NOx emission has become one of the menacing problems that seek a simple, durable, and high-efficiency deNOx catalyst. Herein, we demonstrated simple syntheses of platinum group metal nanoparticle-decorated f-BNNT (PGM = Pd, Pt, and Rh, and fBNNT stands for -OH-functionalized boron nitride nanotubes) as a catalyst for efficient and selective reduction of NO by CO at low temperature conditions. PGM/f-BNNT with a low amount of noble metal nanoparticles (0.7-0.8 wt %) presents very efficient catalytic activity for NO reduction as well as CO oxidation during their removal process. The removal efficiencies of NO and CO with Pd/f-BNNT, Pt/f-BNNT, and Rh/ f-BNNT catalysts were investigated under various temperatures, flow rates, and reaction times, respectively. For most cases, NO catalytic reduction with CO reaction was >99% at a temperature as low as similar to 200 degrees C. The catalyst robustness and efficiency were also verified by presenting almost 100% conversion of NO using a Rh/f-BNNT catalyst, which was aged under humid air at 600 and 700 degrees C for 24 h, respectively. The synergic effect of the catalytic efficacy of the well-dispersed noble metal nanoparticles and the excellent surface properties of BNNT are reasons for the high selectivity and catalytic property at a low temperature. On the basis of this investigation, we demonstrated that the noble metal nanoparticle-decorated f-BNNT catalysts are possible to save expensive PGM catalysts, such as Pt, Pd, and Rd, as much as 100 times while presenting similar or better catalytic performance for simultaneous NO and CO removals.

Automated summary

Parallel to CO2 emission, NOx emission has become a menacing problem that requires a simple, durable, and high-efficiency deNOx catalyst. In this study, we demonstrated the synthesis of platinum group metal nanoparticle-decorated f-BNNT as a catalyst for efficient and selective reduction of NO by CO at low temperatures. The catalyst showed high removal efficiencies of NO and CO, with NO catalytic reduction >99% at temperatures as low as 200 degrees C. The catalyst's robustness and efficiency were also verified through aging tests. The use of the noble metal nanoparticle-decorated f-BNNT catalysts can potentially save expensive PGM catalysts while maintaining similar or better catalytic performance for simultaneous NO and CO removals.