Enhanced Catalytic Oxidation of Toluene over Hierarchical Pt/Y Zeolite

Abstract

The development of efficient Pt-supported zeolite catalysts with tunable micro/mesopore structures for the removal of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) presents a major challenge. Herein, hierarchical Pt/Y zeolites with tunable mesopores are fabricated by varying the etching time before the surfactant-templated crystal rearrangement method and used as catalyst supports for VOC oxidation. The hierarchical Pt/Y zeolites provided an excellent environment for Pt nanoparticle loading with abundant accessible acidic sites. The catalytic performance of the obtained hierarchical Pt/Y zeolites is analyzed using toluene oxidation, with the modified zeolites exhibiting improved catalytic activities. The hierarchical Pt/Y zeolites exhibited higher catalytic toluene oxidation activities than non-hierarchical Pt/Y zeolites. Pt/Y-6h demonstrated the highest catalytic toluene oxidation activity of the prepared catalysts, with a T90 of 149 °C, reaction rate of 1.15 × 10−7 mol gcat−1 s−1, turnover frequency of 1.20 × 10−2 s−1, and an apparent activation energy of 66.5 kJ mol−1 at 60,000 mL g−1 h−1 at a toluene concentration of 1000 ppm. This study will facilitate the fine-tuning of hierarchically porous materials to improve material properties and achieve higher catalytic performance toward VOC oxidation.