CO Oxidation Activities of Ni and Pd-TiO2@SiO2 Core-Shell Nanostructures

We prepared Ni and Pd-modified $TiO_2@SiO_2$ core-shell nanostructures and then analyzed them by scanning electron microscopy, optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction crystallography, FT-IR and UV-Visible absorption spectroscopy. In addition, their CO oxidation performance was tested by temperature-programmed mass spectrometry. The CO oxidation activity showed an order of Ni-$TiO_2@SiO_2$ ($900^{\circ}C$) < Ni-$TiO_2@SiO_2$ ($90^{\circ}C$) < Ni-$TiO_2@SiO_2$ ($450^{\circ}C$) in the first CO oxidation run, and greatly improved activity in the same order in the second run. The $T_{10%}$ (the temperature at 10% CO conversion) corresponds to the CO oxidation rate of $2.8{\times}10^{-5}$ molCO $g{_{cat}}^{-1}s^{-1}$. For Ni-$TiO_2@SiO_2$ ($450^{\circ}C$), the $T_{10%}$ was observed at $365^{\circ}C$ in the first run and at $335^{\circ}C$ in the second run. For the Pd-$TiO_2@SiO_2$ ($450^{\circ}C$), the $T_{10%}$ was observed at a much lower temperature of $263^{\circ}C$ in the first CO oxidation run, and at $247^{\circ}C$ in the second run. The CO oxidation activities of transition metal modified $TiO_2@SiO_2$ core-shell nanostructures presented herein provide new insights that will be useful in developing catalysts for various environments.