Photocatalytic oxidation of CO with various oxidants by Mo oxide species highly dispersed on SiO 2 at 293 K

Abstract

The photocatalytic oxidation of CO into CO 2 with oxidants such as NO, N 2O and O 2 proceeded efficiently on a Mo/SiO 2 with high Mo dispersion under UV light irradiation. It was found that the reaction rate greatly depended on the kind and concentration of the oxidant. Photoluminescence investigations reveal the close relationship between the reaction rate and the relative concentration of the photo-excited Mo 6+-oxide species, i.e. charge transfer–excited–triplet state (Mo 5+–O −) *, under steady-state reaction conditions. Moreover, the photocatalytic oxidation of CO with O 2 in excess H 2 was carried out to test suitability for applications to supplying pure H 2. This reaction was seen to proceed efficiently on Mo/SiO 2 with a high CO conversion of ∼100% and CO selectivity of 99% after 180 min under UV light irradiation, showing higher photocatalytic performance than TiO 2 (P-25) photocatalyst. UV–vis, XAFS, photoluminescence and FT-IR investigations revealed that the high reactivity of the charge transfer–excited–triplet state (Mo 5+–O −) *, with CO as well as the high reactivity of the photoreduced Mo-oxide species (Mo 4+-species) with O 2 to produce the original Mo-oxide species (Mo 6+ O 2−), played a crucial role in the reactions.