Observation of molecular reaction intermediate and reaction mechanism for NO dissociation and NO-H-2 reaction on Rh-Sn/SiO2 catalysts

The Rh-Sn/SiO2 catalyst prepared by the selective reaction between Sn (CH3)(4) vapor and Rh particles on SiO2 was remarkably active for the NO dissociation and the catalytic NO-H-2 reaction, To obtain structural information on the behavior of molecularly adsorbed intermediates related to the high activity of the bimetallic ensemble catalyst surface, in situ EXAFS and FTIR were employed, in parallel with reaction kinetics. We observed the molecular reaction intermediate, bent-type NO, by EXAFS with the aid of FTIR, The reaction mechanism is discussed on the basis of the characterization of adsorbed species and surface bimetallic structure. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.