Effect of interaction between different CeO2 plane and platinum nanoparticles on catalytic activity of Pt/CeO2 in toluene oxidation

The plane exposure of support vitally affects the catalytic performance of the catalyst. In this work, CeO2 nanorods ((110) plane exposure), nano-octahedrons ((111) plane exposure) and nano-cubes ((100) plane exposure) were prepared as the supports of Pt/CeO2 samples to investigate the effect of CeO2 plane exposure on total toluene oxidation. Characterizations reveal that the (110) plane of CeO2 is more helpful to the dispersion of Pt species, followed by (111) face. The improved dispersion of Pt species can enhance the metal-supports interaction, which promotes the electron transfer of CeO2 carrier to Pt nanoparticles and the adsorption-activation of O2, thereby facilitating the total oxidation of toluene via the Langmuir–Hinshelwood (L-H) mechanism. Therefore, Pt/CeO2-r (nanorods) sample expresses excellent catalytic performance of toluene oxidation. Finally, the procedure of toluene total oxidation was studied by in-situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform (DRIFT) spectroscopy. We expect that this work can contribute to the development of an effective sample for the decomposition of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).