Researchers from ZIOC RAS synthesized a catalyst for the decomposition of nitrous oxide using microwave radiation
Nitrous oxide N2O is one of the main greenhouse gases and also has a serious polluting effect on the environment. Much of N2O is generated by human activities: agriculture and the production of nitric and adipic acids produce about 5 megatons of N2O annually. Currently, the most effective method for utilizing nitrous oxide is its catalytic decomposition with the formation of nitrogen and oxygen at relatively high temperatures (300-800 °C). The most active catalysts for these processes are systems based on noble metals such as rhodium and ruthenium. However, due to their high cost, chemists are actively searching for catalytic systems based on base metal oxides. Lanthanum orthoferrite LaFeO3 is an excellent candidate for this role due to its good thermal stability, redox properties, and oxygen mobility in the lattice.
In the latest work of researchers from the laboratory № 14 of the Zelinsky Institute together with MISiS and Lomonosov Moscow State University compared lanthanum orthoferrite samples obtained using the traditional hydrothermal approach and the hydrothermal method using microwave radiation as a heat source, previously proposed in this research group. It was demonstrated that the method of obtaining the material had a noticeable effect on its properties. The microwave approach leads to a reduction in the time and temperature of synthesis, a decrease in the particle size and, as a consequence, higher specific surface area of the catalyst and activity in the catalytic decomposition of nitrous oxide. Thus, the hydrothermal method using microwave radiation demonstrates great potential as an efficient and simple method for the manufacture of functional materials for various purposes.
Source:
Egor M. Kostyukhin, Alexander L. Kustov, Nikolay V. Evdokimenko, Andrey I. Bazlov, Leonid M. Kustov Hydrothermal microwave-assisted synthesis of LaFeO3 catalyst for N2O decomposition J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 2021, 104, 492– 503. DOI: 10.1111/jace.17463.