Highly efficient formaldehyde elimination over meso-structured M/CeO2 (M = Pd, Pt, Au and Ag) catalyst under ambient conditions

Abstract

A series of mesoporous CeO₂ supported noble metal (Pt, Pd, Au and Ag) catalysts, fabricated through a facial pyrolysis and in situ reduction protocol, were used for formaldehyde elimination under ambient conditions. The materials possessed relatively high specific surface area and uniformly dispersed noble metal nanoparticles, and showed very high catalytic activities for formaldehyde oxidation. For about 1 wt% noble metal loaded materials, Pt/CeO₂, Pd/CeO₂ and Au/CeO₂ catalysts could completely catalytically oxidize HCHO at room temperature. Even for the low activity Ag/CeO₂ catalyst, the complete conversion temperature could reach 100 °C, much lower than that reported before. Such good catalytic properties could be attributed to the strong synergetic interaction between the active component and CeO₂ nano-crystalline aggregated support. The reaction mechanism over the noble-metal/CeO₂ catalyst was also discussed through in situ DRIFTS analysis.