CO Oxidation over Pd Catalyst Supported on Porous TiO(2) Prepared by Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation (PEO) of a Ti Metallic Carrier

A porous TiO(2) layer was prepared with the plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) of Ti. In a further step, Pd was deposited on the TiO(2) surface layer using the adsorption method. The activity of the Pd/TiO(2)/Ti catalyst was investigated during the oxidation of CO to CO(2) in a mixture of air with 5% CO. The structure of the catalytic active layer was studied using a scanning electron microscope equipped with an energy dispersive spectrometer (SEM-EDS), time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The PEO process provided a porous TiO(2) layer with a uniform thickness in the range of 5–10 µm, which is desirable for the production of Pd-supported catalysts. A TOF-SIMS analysis showed the formation of Pd nanoparticles after the adsorption treatment. The conversion of CO to CO(2) in all samples was achieved at 150–280 °C, depending on the concentration of Pd. The composition of Pd/ TiO(2)/Ti was determined using ICP-MS. The optimum concentration of Pd on the surface of the catalyst was approximately 0.14% wt. This concentration was obtained when a 0.4% PdCl(2) solution was used in the adsorption process. Increasing the concentration of PdCl(2) did not lead to a further improvement in the activity of Pd/ TiO(2)/Ti.