Catalyst regeneration and activity enhancement of Au/TiO2 by atmospheric pressure nonthermal plasma

Abstract In this work, a nonthermal plasma was applied to the TiO 2 -supported gold nanoparticle catalysts (Au/TiO 2 ) for the catalyst regeneration and the enhancement of catalytic activity for CO oxidation. Exposure to the 100 ppm toluene or C 3 H 6 resulted in rapid deactivation of the Au/TiO 2 catalyst. Oxygen plasma and O 3 injection were found to be effective in the regeneration of the deactivated Au/TiO 2 catalysts. The adsorbed toluene or C 3 H 6 preferentially decomposed to CO 2 regardless of the regeneration method. Direct application of nonthermal plasma greatly enhanced the CO oxidation not only over the completely deactivated Au/TiO 2 catalysts, but also over the Au/TiO 2 catalysts prepared by the impregnation method, which showed no catalytic activity without plasma.