Effects of synthesis conditions on structure and surface properties of SmMn2O5 mullite-type oxide

Abstract A mixed-phase compound that contains SmMn2O5 mullite-type oxides has been reported to display excellent catalytic activity for nitric oxide (NO) oxidation. Here we investigate the effects of calcination temperature and precipitation pH on structural, physical, chemical, and surface properties of SmMn2O5. As the calcination temperature increases from 750 °C to 1000 °C, mullite phase purity increases from 74% to 100%, while specific surface area (SSA) decreases from 23.6 m2/g to 5.1 m2/g with particle size increases correspondingly. Mullite phase purity (87%) is independent of pH between 8.5–10.4, whereas SSA monotonically increases from 12.5 m2/g at pH 8.1 to 27.4 m2/g at pH 13. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) studies reveal that the surface Mn/Sm ratio is similar to the bulk value and is unaffected by calcination temperature and pH values up to 10.4, whereas sample precipitated at pH 13 is surface-rich in Sm. NO chemisorption studies show that the SSA and surface Mn/Sm ratio determine NO uptake by SmMn2O5 mullite oxides.