Effect of Cesium Modification on CuO/CeO2 Catalysts for the Catalytic Decomposition of N2O

A series of Cs-modified CuO/CeO2 mixed oxide catalysts was prepared for enhancing the stable activity of N2O decomposition. It was found that Cs modification promoted the catalytic performance of CuO/CeO2 catalysts significantly. The 1%Cs-CuO/CeO2 catalyst exhibited the best activity, and the conversion of N2O reached 100% at 380 °C in the presence of 2% O2. The catalytic behaviors were investigated by means of XRD, N2 adsorption iso-therms, XPS, H2-TPR(TPR: temperature-programmed reduction), CO-IR, O2-TPD(TPD: temperature-programmed desorption) and diffused reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectorscopy(DRIFTs). The results revealed that Cs modification promoted the activity and the oxygen resistance by enhancing the desorption of surface oxygen species and increasing the content of Ce3+. CO-DRIFTs revealed that Ce3+ could efficiently facilitate the regeneration of active Cu+ sites by an oxygen migration step. The possible reaction mechanism was also discussed.