A Robust Mesoporous Al₂ O₃ -Based Nanocomposite Catalyst for Abundant NO_x Storage with Rational Design of Pt and Ba...

The nanostructural design of heterogeneous catalysts has often been demanded for assessing synergetic effects, which should be developed further by using high-surface-area porous metal oxide supports. However, such opportunities have been undermined by the poor stability of ordered mesoporous structures. Herein, rational design is demonstrated to obtain nanocomposite catalysts showing improved NO_x storage properties owing to the presence of Ba species over a well-designed mesoporous alumina (Al₂ O₃ ) support. It is found that Ba species are impregnated successfully only after the stabilization of the mesoporous structure by full crystallization of Al₂ O₃ frameworks to the γ-phase, with the formation of Pt nanoparticles coinciding with complete removal of organic components. All the insights during this synthetic procedure are essential for designing high-performance catalysts to purify and recover NO_x molecules, and are applied for designing a variety of cutting-edge mesoporous nanocomposite catalysts.