Effect of palladium on the reducibility of Mn based materials: correlation with methane oxidation activity

Mn-based oxide supports were synthesized using different procedures: (i) carbonate co-precipitation method, leading to the formation of a hexaaluminate crystallized solid (La(0.2)Sr(0.3)Ba(0.5)MnAl(11)O(19)) and (ii) solid-solid diffusion method, leading to the formation of a doped theta-Al(2)O(3) crystallized solid (nominal composition: 60 wt% La(0.2)Sr(0.3)Ba(0.5)MnAl(11)O(19) + 40 wt% Al(2)O(3)). Impregnation of 1.0 wt%Pd was carried out on both oxides. The solids were tested for the catalytic methane combustion up to 700 degrees C. It was observed that adding palladium resulted in an important increase in the catalytic activity. The combined use of H(2)-TPR and XPS techniques reveals that only Mn(3+)/Mn(2+) redox "couple" is present in the solids, whatever the synthesis procedure used. The fraction Mn(3+)/Mn is proportional to the total Mn content in the solid support, whatever the sample structure (hexaaluminate or doped theta-Al(2)O(3)) and its morphology (large crystals or aggregates of small particles, respectively). Pd impregnation and further calcination at 650 degrees C has no significant effect on the Mn(3+)/Mn fraction. However, some changes in Mn(3+) reduction profile are observed, depending on the solid structure. Indeed, palladium addition strongly affects the manganese reducibility with an important shift of the reduction process to lower temperatures (approximately 100 degrees C). On the basis of redox properties observed for the different catalysts, a Mars-van-Krevelen redox mechanism, with oxygen transfer from support oxides to palladium particles, is proposed to explain the difference in terms of catalytic conversion and stability with respect to a 1.0 wt%Pd/Al(2)O(3) reference sample.