The use of CeO₂-Co₃O₄ oxides as a catalyst for the reduction of N₂O emission

¹ AGH University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Materials Science and Ceramic, Al. Mick iewicza 30, 30-059 Krakow, Poland
² Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, Wołoska 141, 02-507 Warsaw, Poland

^a Corresponding author: rajska@agh.edu.pl

Abstract

The morphological characterization of a series of cobalt-cerium oxide composites prepared by the deposition of CeO₂ onto Co₃O₄ powder with a molar ratio of cerium oxide to Co3O4 in the range of 0 to 1 was performed. The powders were also impregnated with a solution of K₂CO₃ to obtain the theoretical content of potassium atoms 2at·nm⁻². To investigate the effect of adding specific amount of CeO₂ on the catalytic activity, the X-ray diffraction, SEM-EDX, laser particle size distribution and BET surface area measurements were used. The catalysts were tested through the low-temperature decomposition of nitrous oxide in the temperature range of 50°C to 700°C. The addition of CeO₂ and K always moved the temperature of a complete N2O conversion towards lower temperatures (480°C-540°C to 340°C-420°C). The best catalytic properties were shown by the samples in which the ratio of cerium oxide to cobalt oxide ranged from 0.4 to 0.7.