Low Temperature Oxidation of Carbon Monoxide over Mesoporous Au-Fe2O3 Catalysts

Low temperature active and stable mesoporous Au (0.1, 0.2, 0.5, and 1.0 wt.%) supported alpha-Fe2O3 catalysts were prepared via deposition-precipitation method. The H-2-pretreated catalyst with 0.5 wt.% Au loading offered CO conversion of 100% at 323 K and showed continual activity for at least 120 h. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy analysis indicate that Au species were highly dispersed as nanoparticles (20-40 nm) on the surface of alpha-Fe2O3 support even after thermal treatment at 773 K. The N-2-physisorption measurements show that the synthesized alpha-Fe2O3 support and Au-Fe2O3 nanocomposites possessed mesopores with high specific surface area of about 158 m(2) g(-1). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and H-2-TPR results reveal that the Au species exist in metallic and partially oxidized state due to strong interaction with the support. Effective Au-Fe2O3 interaction resulted in a high activity for Au nanoparticles, locally generated by the thermal treatment at 773 K in air.