Induced low temperature catalytic ignition by transient changes in the gas composition

Journal article, 2002

The effect of gas composition changes on the low temperature activity for supported platinum model catalysts has been studied. By introducing well-controlled periodic O2 pulses to a simple diluted gas mixture of CO and O2, a substantial improvement of the low temperature oxidation activity was observed. The reason for low activity on noble metals at low temperatures is often attributed to self-poisoning by CO. The improved catalytic performance observed is proposed to origin from the transients causing a surface reactant composition that is favourable for the reaction rate, i.e. lower degree of self-poisoning. This was also confirmed by in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy in combination with mass spectrometry measurements, which gave evidence for the existence of a strong interplay between the gas phase concentration and the adsorbate composition for these catalysts.