Preparation and characterization of Fe-doped TiO2 nanoparticles as a support for a high performance CO oxidation catalyst

Abstract

A simple method is described for the preparation of Fe-doped TiO2 nanoparticles (Ti1−xFexO2) that can be used as a high performance support material for a CO oxidation catalyst. The method allows one to fabricate Ti1−xFexO2 with uniform sizes and shapes. Microstructural studies using XRD, Raman spectroscopy and EPR analyses indicate that the Fe dopant is substitutionally incorporated by replacing Ti4+ cations. Electrochemical results indicate that, when a small amount of Fe molecules (less than 8 atomic%) are incorporated into a TiO2 structure, the support material has greatly improved redox characteristics. This suggests that an Fe-doped TiO2 support enhances both the release and uptake of oxygen atoms from the catalysts, thus resulting in a high catalytic activity in CO oxidation reactions. The results confirmed that a Au catalyst supported on Fe-doped TiO2 containing a 6 atom% Fe dopant showed an outstanding oxidation performance. The findings reported herein represent an innovative route to designing high performance catalysts for oxidation reactions.