Low-temperature NH₃ abatement via selective oxidation over a supported copper catalyst with high Cu⁺ abundance

Selective catalytic NH₃-to-N₂ oxidation (NH₃-SCO) is highly promising for abating NH₃ emissions slipped from stationary flue gas after-treatment devices. Its practical application, however, is limited by the non-availability of low-cost catalysts with high activity and N₂ selectivity. Here, using defect-rich nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (NCNT-AW) as the support, we developed a highly active and durable copper-based NH₃-SCO catalyst with a high abundance of cuprous (Cu⁺) sites. The obtained Cu/NCNT-AW catalyst demonstrated outstanding activity with a T₅₀ (i.e. the temperature to reach 50% NH₃ conversion) of 174°C in the NH₃-SCO reaction, which outperformed not only the Cu catalyst supported on N-free O-functionalized CNTs (OCNTs) or NCNT with less surface defects, but also those most active Cu catalysts in open literature. Reaction kinetics measurements and temperature-programmed surface reactions using NH₃ as a probe molecule revealed that the NH₃-SCO reaction on Cu/NCNT-AW follows an internal selective catalytic reaction (i-SCR) route involving nitric oxide (NO) as a key intermediate. According to mechanistic investigations by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray absorption spectroscopy, the superior NH₃-SCO performance of Cu/NCNT-AW originated from a synergy of surface defects and N-dopants. Specifically, surface defects promoted the anchoring of CuO nanoparticles on N-containing sites and, thereby, enabled efficient electron transfer from N to CuO, increasing significantly the fraction of SCR-active Cu⁺ sites in the catalyst. This study puts forward a new idea for manipulating and utilizing the interplay of defects and N-dopants on carbon surfaces to fabricate Cu⁺-rich Cu catalysts for efficient abatement of slip NH₃ emissions via selective oxidation.