Synthesis of nanostructured lean-NO x catalysts by direct laser deposition of monometallic Pt-, Rh- and bimetallic PtRh-nanoparticles on SiO2 support

Monometallic Pt and Rh and bimetallic PtRh catalysts with a highly dispersed noble metal weight loading of ca. 1 wt% were produced via the direct deposition of nanoparticles on different SiO2 supports by means of pulsed ultra-violet (248 nm) excimer laser ablation of Pt, Rh bulk metal and PtRh alloy targets. Backscattered electron microscopy (BSE), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were employed to characterize the deposited nanoparticles, which were found to exhibit narrow size distribution centred around 2.5 nm. The catalytic activities for lean NO x reduction of the monometallic and bimetallic catalyst samples were investigated in a flow reactor setup in the temperature range 100–400°C using a test gas mixture representative of oxygen rich diesel engine exhaust gas. For comparison a Rh/SiO2 reference catalyst prepared by a conventional impregnation method was also tested. Further experiments were performed in which PtRh nanoparticles were deposited on a Rh/SiO2 reference catalyst sample to study the possibility for controlled modification of its activity. The catalytic activity measurements revealed that among the samples solely prepared by laser deposition the PtRh–SiO2 nanoparticle catalyst showed the highest activity for NO x reduction at low temperatures 100–300°C. In addition, it could be demonstrated that the initially low NO x reduction activity and the N2 selectivity of the Rh/SiO2 reference catalyst sample for temperatures below 250°C can be enhanced by post laser deposition of PtRh nanoparticles.