Preparation of Ag–Cu/Al2O3 Composite Catalyst for Ammonia Decomposition

A catalyst of Ag with alumina has been widely used for the decomposition of odorous ammonia. In order to meet cost effectiveness, copper was added with five different doping ratios of Ag/Cu in this work, and NH3 decomposition was examined at 150–400 °C. Experimental results show that the catalyst doped with only Cu shows very weak potential to oxidize NH3 despite its excellent selectivity for nitrogen molecules than NO or N2O at temperatures over 300 °C. Analysis by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy indicates that Ag0 is the major chemical functionality that determines the decomposition rate of NH3 at low temperature, e.g., 200 °C, while Ag+ and Ag2+ are efficient at higher temperatures. Among the five segregated copper functionalities, only Cu 2pa/2 appeared to be favorable for the activity of Ag particles. It was found from the experimental results that Ag/Cu = 1:9 could provide a cost‐effective combination for the low temperature regime. KCI Citation Count: 0