Zeolite-promoted platinum catalyst for efficient reduction of nitrogen oxides with hydrogen.

Internal combustion engine fueled by carbon-free hydrogen (H-ICE) offers a promising alternative for sustainable transportation. Herein, we report a facile and universal strategy through the physical mixing of Pt catalyst with zeolites to significantly improve the catalytic performance in the selective catalytic reduction of nitrogen oxides (NO) with H (H-SCR), a process aiming at NO removal from H-ICE. Via the physical mixing of Pt/TiO with Y zeolite (Pt/TiO + Y), a remarkable enhancement of NO reduction activity and N selectivity was simultaneously achieved. The incorporation of Y zeolite effectively captured the in-situ generated water, fostering a water-rich environment surrounding the Pt active sites. This environment weakened the NO adsorption while concurrently promoting the H activation, leading to the strikingly elevated H-SCR activity and N selectivity on Pt/TiO + Y catalyst. This study provides a unique, easy and sustainable physical mixing approach to achieve proficient heterogeneous catalysis for environmental applications.