Enhanced Stability and Catalytic Performance of Active Rh Sites on Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> Via Atomic Layer Deposited ZrO<sub>2</sub>
Feng Guo, Jingwei Li, Yibo Zhang, Xiangguang Yang
Abstract
Modulating the Rh active sites on surfaces of Al2O3 is crucial to developing effective three-way catalysts. Herein, an ultralow amount of ZrO2 (0.0179%) was deposited onto Al2O3 nanorods via atomic layer deposition (ALD) to form a catalyst with both thermal stability and low-temperature activity. The results demonstrate that the ALD-ZrO2 is conducive to improve the catalytic activity of the Rh site and inhibit the formation of irreducible Rh species at high temperature. The obtained catalysts show satisfactory performance for a model NO–CO reaction even after thermal aging at 1050 °C. This strategy shows that a molecularly precise synthesis can lead to the robust promotion of Rh activity under low temperature and provide a promising path toward reducing the deactivation of catalysts at high temperature.