Multifunctional Pt-Cu/TiO2 nanostructures and their performance in oxidation of soot, formaldehyde, and carbon monoxide reactions

The present research work discusses the influence of platinum nanoparticles on the catalytic activity of Cu/TiO2 catalysts for soot, formaldehyde, and carbon monoxide oxidation. The results showed that the size of the platinum nanoparticles, loaded on the Cu/TiO2 nanostructure, varied from 1 to 2 nm. The Pt-Cu/TiO2 catalyst exhibited effective catalytic performance in the oxidation of formaldehyde at 25 °C (99% of conversion), CO at 100 °C (90% of conversion) and soot at 300 °C (100% of conversion) due to the platinum particle size and Pt-Cu interaction, which developed Ti3+ and oxygen vacancies on TiO2. Moreover, the bimetallic catalyst consisted of a complex mixture of Cu2+, Cu1+, and Pt0 species. The Pt-Cu/TiO2 catalyst showed stability in the three different reactions from 20 to 300 °C.