Enhancing Water Resistance of a Mn-Based Catalyst for Low Temperature Selective Catalytic Reduction Reaction by Modifying Super Hydrophobic Layers

OMS-2 catalysts exhibit excellent selective catalytic reduction (SCR) activity at low temperature but weak H2O resistance restricts its industrial application. To remarkably improve the water resistance of Mn-based catalysts is a key technical problem. In this work, the H2O endurance and self-cleaning properties of OMS-2 catalysts are remarkably improved by the facile process, construction of hydrophobic coating. The performance of the hydrophobic layer on the bulk OMS-2 catalyst surface could be effectively controlled by adjusting the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) vapor deposition temperature. It is discovered that the 200 °C catalyst obtained super hydrophobic properties and formed with a contact angle of 160.3°, which not only exhibited satisfactory NH3-SCR activity at low temperatures (140–300 °C) but also dramatically improved H2O endurance and self-cleaning performance. Moreover, the mechanism of improving H2O resistance and stability of the 200 °C catalyst was investigated in detail through a series of characterizations. Although the SCR activity of the 200 °C catalyst decreased slightly because of the combination of some active species (Oα and Mn3+) with PDMS, the H2O passivation of the active species was eliminated. The advantage of self-cleaning was confirmed by the analysis of surface species and simulation experiments, which could avoid the accumulation of intermediates on the surface and promote the stability of the OMS-2 catalyst for NH3-SCR at low temperature. This method of constructing special coating might be a huge step to remarkably improve the H2O endurance properties of the catalyst and provided a new concept for future industrial application.