Influence of platinum precursors on the activity of diesel oxidation catalysts. An EXAFS study

The development of oxidation catalysts with low temperature activity for CO and HC oxidation has been the focus of recent developments in automotive e mission control of diesel powered passenger cars. Using combined X-ray abso rption-model gas activity experiments it could be shown that the platinum p recursor is primarily responsible for the activity of diesel oxidation cata lysts in the fresh state. The conditioning of catalysts is also very import ant and further improves the catalytic activity. This study demonstrated th at the development of modem automotive emission control catalysts benefits from the progress of advanced analytical techniques like X-ray absorption. The knowledge of microscopic structure correlated to catalytic properties a llows the efficient design of tailor-made catalysts for future applications .