Investigation of the Facet-Dependent Catalytic Performance of Fe₂O₃/CeO₂ for the Selective Catalytic Reduction of NO with NH₃

The facet-dependent catalytic performance of Fe2O3/CeO2 catalysts for the selective catalytic reduction of NO with NH3 (NH3–SCR) has been investigated using combined experimental and density functional theory (DFT) methods. The structure and surface characteristics of the synthesized samples were characterized by XRD, XPS, TEM, ICP–AES, N2 sorption isotherms, Raman spectra, photoluminescence spectra, H2–TPR, NH3–TPD and NO + O2–TPD. It is found that the CeO2 nanorods and Fe2O3/CeO2 nanorods predominately exposed {110} and {100} facets rather than the stable {111} facets on CeO2 nanopolyhedra and Fe2O3/CeO2 nanopolyhedra. The influence of the micromorphologies and surface properties of CeO2 supports on the NO conversion and N2 selectivity has been compared. The Fe2O3/CeO2 nanorods achieve higher catalytic activity than the Fe2O3/CeO2 nanopolyhedra for NH3–SCR of NO. The synergetic effect between CeO2 supports and Fe2O3 species has been demonstrated. The insight into molecular facet dependence by the DFT method clearly showed that the Fe2O3/CeO2 {110} catalyst is more reactive to NO and NH3 gases than the Fe2O3/CeO2 {111} and naked CeO2 {110}, which agree well with the experimental results. As a result, the outstanding catalytic performance of Fe2O3/CeO2 nanorods is attributed to the adsorbed surface oxygen, oxygen defects and atomic concentration of Fe which are associated with their exposed {110} and {100} facets of nanorods.