In-situ generation of platinum nanoparticles on LaCoO3 matrix for soot oxidation

The LaCo0.94Pt0.06O3 catalyst is reduced under 5% H2/Ar at different temperatures to get Pt/LaCoO3 with high catalytic activity for soot oxidation. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller method (BET), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), H2-temperature programmed reduction (H2-TPR), O2-temperature programmed desorption (O2-TPD) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were used to study the physicochemical properties of the catalyst. SEM and TEM results indicate that Pt nanoparticles (<10 nm) are grown homogeneously on the surface of the LaCoO3 matrix after in-situ reduction. XRD shows that the reduced catalyst has a high symmetrical structure. TGA results indicate that all reduced catalysts exhibit an excellent activity, especially the catalyst reduced at 350 °C (T10 = 338 °C, T50 = 393 °C, T90 = 427 °C). And perovskite is the primary active component. According to XPS study, the high symmetrical structure benefits the mobility of oxygen vacancy, and Pt nanoparticles induce the oxygen vacancy to move to its adjacent situation, resulting in more adsorbed oxygen on the surface of the reduced catalyst and increasing the activity. The possible reaction principle is also proposed.