Enhanced activity of bimetallic Pd-based catalysts for methane combustion

In this work, the bimetallic Pd catalysts containing Ag, Cu, Co and Ni were prepared via the glow discharge plasma treatment followed by calcination thermally. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis confirms that the plasma treatment can reduce Pd2+ effectively. The calcination of the plasma formed Pd clusters enhances the formation of PdO that was identified as the active species for methane combustion. Compared to the conventional catalysts, all the plasma prepared samples show an enhancement in the activity at the same temperature. Among the investigated catalysts, the Pd-Ag/HZSM-5 sample exhibits the best activity for methane combustion.