Investigation of cyclohexane catalytic degradation driven by N atoms from N_(2)discharges

The effect of N_(2)discharge products on cyclohexane degradation over a MnO_(2)/γ-Al_(2)O_(3)catalyst has been evaluated by feeding N_(2)discharge products to the catalyst using a specially designed dielectric barrier discharge reactor.At a reaction temperature of 100℃,the cyclohexane conversion increased from 2.46%(without N_(2)discharge products)to 26.3%(with N_(2)discharge products).N-and O-containing by-product(3,4-dehydroproline)was found on the catalyst surface using gas chromatograph-mass spectrometry identification,in which C=N–C and C=N–H bonds were also confirmed from x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis results.Operando analysis results using diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy revealed that N atoms can react with surface H_(2)O possibly to NH and OH reactive species that have reactivities to promote CO oxidation to CO_(2).The mechanism of N-atom-driven cyclohexane degradation to CO and CO_(2)is proposed.