Catalytic performance of different types of iron zeolites in N2O decomposition

A series of Fe/zeolites (ZSM-35, ZSM-5, beta, and mordenite) samples with Fe/Al molar ratios of 0.33 were prepared using a solid-state ion-exchange method. A combination of ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance, in-situ Fourier-transform infrared, and in-situ visible Raman spectroscopic techniques, with a transient response method, was used to investigate the influence of the zeolite framework on the catalytic properties of the Fe/zeolites in N2O decomposition. The results show that the catalytic activity of the Fe/zeolites-HT (HT denotes high-temperature treatment) samples is in the order Fe/ZSM-35-HT > Fe/beta-HT > Fe/ZSM-5-HT > Fe/mordenite-HT. There is a linear relationship between the rate of N2O decomposition and the concentration of binuclear iron sites. This indicates that binuclear iron sites are the active sites for N2O decomposition. A correlation between the formation of binuclear iron sites and Fe ion distribution among the cationic sites is proposed. Two Fe(II) cations located in two adjacent six-membered rings in a 10-membered ring channel (a sites) or in two neighboring six-membered rings in an eight-membered ring channel (beta sites) of Fe/ZSM-35 are favorable for the formation of active binuclear iron sites. Similar structure can also be formed in two adjacent six-membered rings in polymorphs A and B of beta zeolite or in the six-membered rings at the intersection of the straight and sinusoidal channels of the ZSM-5 framework. For the Fe/mordenite-HT sample, most of the iron species are present as isolated iron cations, so it has the lowest activity in N2O decomposition. (C) 2013, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.