Insight into the mechanisms of activity promotion and SO resistance over Fe-doped Ce-W oxide catalyst for NO reduction.

Ceria-based catalysts for the selective catalytic reduction of NO with NH (NH-SCR) are always subject to deactivation by sulfur poisoning. In this study, Fe-doped Ce-W mixed oxides, which were synthesized by the co-precipitation method, improved the SCR activity and SO durability at low temperatures of undoped Ce-W oxides. The improved low-temperature activity was mainly due to the enhancement of redox properties at low temperatures and more active oxygen species, together with the adsorption and activation of more abundant NO species, facilitating the "fast SCR" reaction. In the presence of SO, doping with Fe species effectively prevented sulfate deposition on the CeW catalyst, due to the interaction between Fe, Ce, and W species inducing electron transfer among different metal sites and altering the electron distribution. The competitive adsorption behavior between NO and SO was changed by Fe doping, in which the adsorption and oxidation of SO were restrained. Besides, the elevated NO oxidation accelerated the decomposition of ammonium bisulfate, causing the SCR reaction to not be greatly suppressed. Hence, Fe-doped Ce-W oxides catalysts showed excellent sulfur resistance. This study provides an in-depth understanding of efficient Ce-based catalysts for SO-tolerance strategies.