Abstract
Heterogeneous catalysts play an important role in the chemical industry and are also of critical importance in the general well-being of society in the 21st century. Increasing demands are being placed on catalyst performance in a number of areas such as activity, selectivity, longevity, and cost. Conventional approaches to improving catalytic performance are becoming exhausted, and novel ways of generating the increased performance are being sought. The utilization of cold plasmas has opened great opportunities for modification of catalysts, thanks to their room-temperature operations with reduced energy combustion, shortened duration, and undestroyed bulk structure. In this review, we present an assessment of the modification of catalysts by cold plasmas, with emphasis on particle sizes, dispersion of nanoparticles, distribution of elements, electronic properties, acid-base properties, surface functional groups, and metal-support interaction. Moreover, challenges and perspectives are also presented for the further modification of catalysts by cold plasmas and broadening their practical applications.
About the authors
Lingfeng Zhang received his PhD degree in materials science from Nankai University in 2015, under the supervision of Prof Zhong-Yong Yuan. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of South Africa. His current research relates to the treatment of catalysts by plasmas for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis.
Xinying Liu is the head of catalysis research group in Material and Process Synthesis Engineering, a research unit in the University of South Africa. His research focuses on the process development of small- and medium-scale Fischer-Tropsch plant. He was the project leader of various Fischer-Tropsch pilot plants using unconventional carbonaceous material as feed stock. He is also active in the field of advanced catalytic material design and industrial application.
Michael S. Scurrell is research professor in the Department of Civla and Chemical Engineering at the University of South Africa and is also emeritus professor of chemistry at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. He has worked in catalysis research for over 40 years on various topics, especially hydrocarbon and energy conversion, gold catalysis, and, more recently, on advanced methods of catalyst synthesis and activation of nanomaterials.
Acknowledgments
We thank UNISA for financial support of this work and for the award of a postdoctoral fellowship (to LZ) (Grant/Award Number: ‘n/a’).
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