Reductive treatments with pulses of CO-rich atmosphere have been
used to increase and maintain the low temperature activity of a Pt/CeO2-based oxidation catalyst. A combination of operando infrared thermography and spatiotemporal-resolved quick scanning
extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy on a fixed bed
microreactor unraveled that, apart from the pulse length, the reaction
atmosphere, and the reactor temperature, also the emerging reaction
heat during such activating pulses has a strong influence on the structure
and catalytic performance of CO and propylene conversion in the axial
direction of a fixed-bed and a monolithic reactor. The reductive pulse
activation led to an increase of the integral catalyst activity as
well as to the generation of zones of different particle sizes along
the catalyst bed. In the case of an activation temperature between
250 and 350 °C and pulse lengths between 5 and 30 s, a hotspot
of more than 80 K was observed at the beginning of the catalyst bed.
Spatially resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy indicates that larger
and more reduced Pt particles are formed particularly at the beginning
of the catalyst bed, whereas its subsequent part is less affected.
Both the length of the reductive pulses and activation temperature
have a distinct influence on the noble metal particle size. On the
basis of these results, a Pt/CeO2 based honeycomb shaped
substrate was activated in a similar manner. Spatially resolved gas
phase profiling showed different reaction rates at the beginning of
the reactor, which indicates that the concept can be transferred also
to industrially relevant catalysts. In the future, such an activation
procedure might open up the door to a new class of operation strategies,
by which individual zones generated in the catalyst bed could be assigned
for removal of specific pollutants in the exhaust stream.