Fabrication of copper supported on hollow silica–alumina composite spheres for catalytic decomposition of nitrous oxide

Abstract

In this work, we fabricated copper supported on hollow silica–alumina composite spheres for catalytic decomposition of nitrous oxide. The copper supported on the hollow spheres was obtained by impregnation of the active copper species on the hollow silica–alumina composite sphere support prepared by the template method using spherical polystyrene particles. The supported copper catalysts on the hollow spheres showed higher conversion of nitrous oxide than supported copper catalyst on fine silica–alumina composite particles. The catalyst activity was significantly improved by adjusting impregnation temperature, and the supported copper catalyst impregnated at 353 K exhibits around 75% of nitrous oxide conversion at 573 K. The results of the DR UV–Vis spectra, the EDX analysis, and nitrogen adsorption measurement indicate that the highly active catalyst consisted of high ratio of isolated copper ions inside the shell of the hollow spheres.