Sm doped NiO catalysts with excellent H2O resistance for N2O decomposition under simulated nitric acid plant exhaust condition

• Edge dislocations and defects were created on the surface of Sm 0.06 Ni. • The redox cycle of Ni 2+ +Sm 3+ ↔ Ni 3+ +Sm 2+ improved catalyst performance. • Sm 0.06 Ni catalyst has much lower E a , higher TOF compare with NiO. • Sm 0.06 Ni catalyst exhibits excellent resistance to H 2 O, O 2 and NO. • The activity of Sm 0.06 Ni was quite stable in the submitted real reaction condition. Sm 0.06 Ni with excellent H 2 O resistance for eliminating N 2 O was prepared by co-precipitation method. Research indicated that the introduction of Sm into Sm 0.06 Ni has the following effects: 1) Sm species (Sm 2 O 3 ) highly dispersed on the surface of Sm 0.06 Ni catalyst, which not only decreased the crystallite size of NiO, but also produced a certain number of edge dislocations and defects. 2) Sm 2 O 3 weakened the Ni-O band and increased the number of active sites. 3) The redox cycle of Ni 2+ + Sm 3+ ↔ Ni 3+ + Sm 2+ was formed on the surface of Sm 0.06 Ni during the reaction. Based on the above changes, Sm 0.06 Ni exhibited superior catalytic performance and much lower E a for the reaction compared with pure NiO. Over Sm 0.06 Ni, the TOF at 350 ℃ was 4.1×10 -3 s -1 , 37 times of that over pure NiO. More importantly, Sm 0.06 Ni exhibited excellent H 2 O resistance performance under submitted real reaction conditions, about 76% N 2 O conversion can be obtained at 400 ℃.