Dielectric barrier discharge plasma synthesis of Ag/γ-Al_(2)O_(3) catalysts for catalytic oxidation of CO

In this study,Ag/γ-Al_(2)O_(3)catalysts were synthesized by an Ar dielectric barrier discharge plasma using silver nitrate as the Ag source andγ-alumina(γ-Al_(2)O_(3))as the support.It is revealed that plasma can reduce silver ions to generate crystalline silver nanoparticles(Ag NPs)of good dispersion and uniformity on the alumina surface,leading to the formation of Ag/γ-Al_(2)O_(3)catalysts in a green manner without traditional chemical reductants.Ag/γ-Al_(2)O_(3)exhibited good catalytic activity and stability in CO oxidation reactions,and the activity increased with increase in the Ag content.For catalysts with more than 2 wt%Ag,100%CO conversion can be achieved at 300°C.The catalytic activity of the Ag/γ-Al_(2)O_(3)catalysts is also closely related to the size of theγ-alumina,where Ag/nano-γ-Al_(2)O_(3)catalysts demonstrate better performance than Ag/micro-γ-Al_(2)O_(3)catalysts with the same Ag content.In addition,the catalytic properties of plasma-generated Ag/nano-γ-Al_(2)O_(3)(Ag/γ-Al_(2)O_(3)-P)catalysts were compared with those of Ag/nano-γ-Al_(2)O_(3)catalysts prepared by the traditional calcination approach(Ag/γ-Al_(2)O_(3)-C),with the plasma-generated samples demonstrating better overall performance.This simple,rapid and green plasma process is considered to be applicable for the synthesis of diverse noble metal-based catalysts.