Date of Completion

1-4-2017

Embargo Period

1-4-2019

Keywords

manganese oxide, nanorod arrays, nano-arrays, monolithic catalyst, exhaust treatment, CO oxidation, propane oxidation

Major Advisor

Steven L. Suib

Associate Advisor

Alfredo Angeles-Boza

Associate Advisor

Jie He

Associate Advisor

Pu-Xian Gao

Associate Advisor

Fatma Selampinar

Field of Study

Chemistry

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Open Access

Open Access

Abstract

This study focused on the design and synthesis of manganese oxide nanomaterials with nanoarray architectures. First of all, a straightforward synthetic strategy was discovered to fabricate manganese oxide nanoarrays on two-dimensional substrates (e.g. Si wafers and conductive FTO glass). Then, the generic one-pot hydrothermal synthesis route has been successfully utilized to in-situ grow uniform manganese oxide nanoarrays onto the cordierite honeycomb monolithic substrates, forming a series of nanoarray-based monolithic catalysts with different morphology, surface area, and reactivity of carbon monoxide (CO) oxidation., denoted as HM-DCM, HM-PCR, and HM-PSF, respectively. Next, copper manganese oxide (CuMn2O4) was combined with the manganese oxide nanoarray-based monolithic catalysts to enhance reactivity. Nanosheet layers of CuMn2O4 were uniformly coated onto the manganese oxide nanoarrays (HM-PCR). Compared to traditional monolithic catalysts with alumina support, the benefit of nanoarray morphology was demonstrated by correlating the variation of surface area with the reactivity. The incorporation of cobalt ions promoted the higher surface area and C3H8 conversion as well. Last but not least, a continuous flow synthesis system was attempted to scale-up the size of manganese oxide nanoarray-based monolithic catalysts. Overall, the straightforward synthetic processes of nanoarrays and transition metal oxide coatings show a scalable, low-cost, and template-free method to fabricate monolithic catalysts for exhaust treatment.

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