Unveiling the Origin of Selectivity in the Selective Catalytic Reduction of NO with NH3 over Oxide Catalysts

The trade-off between activity and selectivity is a century-old puzzle in catalysis. In the selective catalytic reduction of NO with NH3 (NH3-SCR), various typical oxide catalysts exhibit distinct characteristics of activity and selectivity: Mn-based catalysts show outstanding low-temperature activity and poor N2 selectivity, mainly caused by N2O formation, while Fe- and V-based catalysts possess inverse characteristics. The underlying mechanism, however, has remained elusive. In this study, by combining experimental measurements and density functional theory calculations, we demonstrate that the distinct difference in the selectivity of oxide catalysts is determined by the gap in the energy barriers between N2 formation and N2O formation from the consumption of the key intermediate NH2NO. The gaps in the energy barriers follow the order of α-MnO2 < α-Fe2O3 < V2O5/TiO2, in correspondence with the order of N2 selectivity of the catalysts. This work discloses the intrinsic link between the target reaction and side reactions in the selective catalytic reduction of NO, providing fundamental insights into the origin of selectivity.