Boosted denitration activity of α-Fe2O3 for low-temperature NH3-SCR by addition of Ce/Cu

To enhance the low-temperature denitration efficiency of alpha-Fe2O3, Ce/Cu-supported Ce/alpha-Fe and Cu/alpha-Fe were synthesized and applied to NH3-SCR denitration. The findings indicate that Ce and Cu significantly improve the low-temperature denitration performance of alpha-Fe2O3, with the Cu/alpha-Fe achieving over 95 % catalytic efficiency between 240 and 360 degrees C. Characterization results show strong interactions and electronic transfer effects between Ce/Cu and Fe, which significantly reduce the crystallinity of alpha-Fe2O3 and generate more surface Fe3+ and chemisorbed oxygen. For Cu/alpha-Fe, its low-temperature denitration performance is largely dependent on its redox capacity and surface acidity. In contrast, the improved low-temperature denitration performance of Ce/alpha-Fe is mainly attributed to its significantly enhanced surface acidity. Moreover, after loading Ce and Cu, the types of surface adsorbed NOx species are increased. Particularly for Cu/alpha-Fe, monodentate nitrate is newly generated, which are key active species for low-temperature catalytic activity, explaining why Cu/alpha-Fe exhibits the best lowtemperature catalytic performance.