Facile Synthesis of Highly Active and Ultrastable Palladium Catalysts for Formaldehyde Oxidation

Formaldehyde (HCHO), a common pollutant in industrial productions and indoor environments, poses health risks to humans. Thermal catalytic oxidation has been regarded as an effective approach to eliminate formaldehyde pollution due to its environmental benefits and operational convenience. In this study, a Pd-based catalyst with high dispersion of Pd was prepared by a facile impregnation method and choosing the appropriate calcination temperature of MgFe₂O₄ support, which demonstrated excellent activity and robustness during a long term test of 60 h conducted at 30 °C and WHSV of 30,000 mL/(g-h). A comprehensive set of characterizations, such as N₂ physisorption, CO chemisorption, STEM, XRD, XPS, H₂-TPR, O₂-TPD, and CO₂-TPD, were employed. The results revealed that the outstanding catalytic activity and stability resulted from the high dispersion of Pd, good oxygen mobility, strong antioxidant capacity of Pd, the low CO₂ desorption temperature, and high CO₂ desorption amount at low temperature. This study presents a palladium catalyst with significant industrial application potential in formaldehyde removal.