Multifunctional Pt-Cu/TiO2 nanostructures and their performance in oxidation of soot, formaldehyde, and carbon monoxide reactions

Abstract The present research work discusses the influence of platinum nanoparticles on the catalytic activity of Cu/TiO2 catalysts for soot, formaldehyde, and carbon monoxide oxidation. The results showed that the size of the platinum nanoparticles, loaded on the Cu/TiO2 nanostructure, varied from 1 to 2 nm. The Pt-Cu/TiO2 catalyst exhibited effective catalytic performance in the oxidation of formaldehyde at 25 °C (99% of conversion), CO at 100 °C (90% of conversion) and soot at 300 °C (100% of conversion) due to the platinum particle size and Pt-Cu interaction, which developed Ti3+ and oxygen vacancies on TiO2. Moreover, the bimetallic catalyst consisted of a complex mixture of Cu2+, Cu1+, and Pt0 species. The Pt-Cu/TiO2 catalyst showed stability in the three different reactions from 20 to 300 °C.