Superior performance of iridium supported on rutile titania for the catalytic decomposition of N2O propellants

Abstract

AbstractN2O is a promising green propellant and exhibits great potential for satellite propulsion systems. It is difficult for catalytic decomposition, which is an important way to initiate the propulsion process, to occur at temperatures below 600 °C due to the high activation energy of N2O. In this work, we report an Ir supported on rutile TiO2 (Ir/r-TiO2) catalyst which exhibits a fairly high activity for high-concentration N2O decomposition. HAADF-STEM, H2-TPR, and XPS results indicate that highly dispersed Ir particles and improved oxygen mobility on the Ir/r-TiO2 could facilitate the decomposition of N2O and desorption of the adsorbed oxygen. Bridge-bonded peroxide intermediates were observed with in-situ DRIFT and herein, a detailed decomposition route is proposed.