Nitration-Promoted Vanadate Catalysts for Low-Temperature Selective Catalytic Reduction of NO with NH₃

Vanadium-based catalysts have been commercially used in selective catalytic reduction (SCR), owing to their high catalytic activity and effectiveness across a wide temperature range; however, their catalytic efficiency decreases at lower temperatures under exposure to SO. This decrease is largely due to ammonium sulfate generation on the catalyst surface. To overcome this limitation, we added ammonium nitrate to the V₂O₅-WO₃/TiO₂ catalyst, producing a V₂O₅-WO₃/TiO₂ catalyst with nitrate functional groups. With this approach, we found that it was possible to adjust the amount of these functional groups by varying the amount of ammonium nitrate. Overall, the resultant nitrate V₂O₅-WO₃/TiO₂ catalyst has large quantities of NO₃^- and chemisorbed oxygen, which improves the density of Brønsted and Lewis acid sites on the catalyst surface. Furthermore, the nitrated V₂O₅-WO₃/TiO₂ catalyst has a high NO removal efficiency and N₂ selectivity at low temperatures (i.e., 300 °C); this is because NO₃^- and chemisorbed oxygen, generated by nitrate treatment, facilitated the occurrence of a fast SCR reaction. The approach outlined in this study can be applied to a wide range of SCR catalysts, allowing for the development of more, low-temperature SCR catalysts.