Praseodymium hydroxide and oxide nanorods and Au/Pr6O11 nanorod catalysts for CO oxidation.
Praseodymium hydroxide nanorods were synthesized by a two-step approach: First, metallic praseodymium was used to form praseodymium chloride, which reacted subsequently with KOH solution to produce praseodymium hydroxide. In the second step the hydroxide was treated with a concentrated alkaline solution at 180 degrees C for 45 h, yielding nanorods as shown by the scanning and transmission electron microscopy images. The results of X-ray diffraction and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy experiments indicate that these nanorods are pure praseodymium hydroxide with a hexagonal structure, which can be converted into praseodymium oxide (Pr6O11) nanorods of a face-centered cubic structure after calcination at 600 degrees C for 2 h in air. Gold was loaded on the praseodymium oxide nanorods using HAuCl4 as the gold source, and NaBH4 was used to reduce the gold species to metallic nanoparticles with sizes of 8-12 nm on the nanorod surface. These Au/Pr6O11 nanorods exhibit superior catalytic activity for CO oxidation.
Institute of New Energy Material Chemistry, Department of Materials Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China.
P X
PX
Huang
F
F
Wu
B L
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Zhu
G R
GR
Li
Y L
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Wang
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Gao
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Zhu
T Y
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Yan
W P
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Huang
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Zhang
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Song