Enhancement of catalytic N2O decomposition by modulating oxygen vacancies over Cu/Ce1-XYX catalysts

We reformed Cu supported on Ce-Y via CeO2-Y2O3 solid solution to improve the activity in catalytic N2O decomposition. Catalysts with different Ce/Y molar ratios were used in all experiments and analytic techniques. Cu/Ce0.5Y0.5 achieved the highest activity. Up to Ce/Y molar ratio = 1, the activation energy required for N2O decomposition decreased but markedly increased when the Y2O3 lattice was the support by an excess of Y loading. The number of sites accessible to N2O and surface oxygen vacancies increased with Y species loading. However, the activity of Cu/Ce0.1Y0.9, Y2O3-based catalysts, decreased due to the difficulty of releasing O2 from its strong affinity with O2. Proper incorporation of Ce-Y enhanced the N2O decomposition activity by modulating the number of oxygen vacancies while maintaining the CeO2 lattice. (c) 2023 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Cu supported on Ce-Y via CeO2-Y2O3 solid solution was reformed to improve the activity in catalytic N2O decomposition. Cu/Ce0.5Y0.5 achieved the highest activity. The number of accessible sites and oxygen vacancies increased with Y species loading, but the activity of Cu/Ce0.1Y0.9 decreased due to the difficulty of releasing O2.