Ce-modified AlZr pillared clays supported-transition metals for catalytic combustion of chlorobenzene

In this article, we provided a one-step hydrothermal method to prepare composite AlZr pillaring agents, and synthesized AlZr-pillared clays (AlZr-PILC) via ion exchange. Compared with conventional methods, our method successfully shortened synthetic routes and greatly reduced consumption of the materials. Then, AlZr-PILC-supported manganese and cerium oxide catalysts were obtained by impregnation method. The compositions and properties of these catalysts were characterized by some technical means. The energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy clearly shows the existence of Mn, Ce, and O, which indicates the successful loading of the active components on the surface of AlZr-PILC. Meanwhile, the results of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and N₂ adsorption experiments demonstrate that the synthesized AlZr-PILC outperforms the raw clays (Na-mmt) and mononuclear Al-PILC in the catalytic combustion of chlorobenzene. XRD and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy also proves that the high activity of them is related to the high dispersion of the oxides and the exposure of more active sites. H₂-temperature-programmed reduction shows that cerium can promote the redox cycles of the manganese system through the strong interactions between MnO₂, CeO₂ and AlZr-PILC. In particular, MnCe(9:1)/AlZr-PILC shows the best catalytic activity in the catalytic combustion of chlorobenzene.