Air pollutants can cause poor air quality; however, the use of heterogeneous catalytic oxidation has been shown to be an efficient and cost-effective removal method. Some examples of commercial application of such catalysts include catalytic convertors in automobiles and industrial process exhausts. Research with regards to improving these technologies has included using less-expensive catalyst materials, increasing catalytic performance, and achieving higher efficiency.
The concept of metal-support interaction (MSI) is one method of altering catalytic performance through changing the properties of the metal catalyst due to the interaction with the support material. Similarly, the phenomenon of electrochemical promotion of catalysis (EPOC) has also been shown to enhance the catalytic activity, however, through the application of a small electrical stimulus to a catalyst-working electrode deposited on a solid electrolyte (e.g. yttria-stablized zirconia). The properties of the metal catalyst are altered due to the movement of ions (in this case, O2-) from the electrolyte. Since its discovery, several factors were identified that are preventing EPOC from being commercialized, including the use of thick film catalysts. Implementing nano-catalysts makes this method competitive with typical heterogeneous catalysts; however, it has not been studied by many research groups. Furthermore, many heterogeneous catalytic studies have been performed separately for each of these phenomena; however, a connection between EPOC and MSI has yet to be fully understood.
The overall objective of this project is to study the concept of EPOC over highly-dispersed nano-catalysts and determine how MSI relates to the change in catalytic activity. Supported nano-catalysts were synthesized, characterized, and evaluated for catalytic performance using model reactions. A reactor was designed to carry out the electrochemical studies, where the EPOC concept was successfully implemented and a relationship with MSI established. Furthermore, additional studies were conducted to determine the role of the O2- in the catalyst support and its relationship to MSI.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/34610 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Dole, Holly |
| Contributors | Baranova, Elena |
| Publisher | Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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