Boosted surface acidity in TiO2 and Al2O3-TiO2 nanotubes as catalytic supports

In this study, titanate nanotubes (NT) and titanate nanotubes with alumina (NT-Al) were studied as solid acid catalytic supports to show the relationship between the kind of acidity and catalytic activity. The supports were characterized by XRD, TEM, FTIR, XPS, and tested in the SCR-NO with NH3. It was found that the amount of Bronsted acid sites was maintained and the Lewis acid sites were significantly affected by the addition of alumina (1, 3, 5 and 10 wt.); such acidity was higher than that of the titanate nanotubes (NT) by two-fold. To confirm the formation of titanate nanotubes and titanate nanotubes with alumina, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used. X-ray diffraction (XRD) revealed the formation of the H2Ti4O9.H2O phase. All NT and NT-Al supports presented catalytic activity to remove NO with NH3 under lean conditions, confirming the presence of an important amount of Bronsted and Lewis acid sites in both NT and NT-Al supports. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier B.V.