Plasma-catalysis: Is it just a question of scale?

Abstract

The issues of describing and understanding the changes in performance that result when a catalyst is placed into plasma are discussed. The different chemical and physical interactions that result and how their combination might produce beneficial results for the plasma-catalytic processing of different gas streams are outlined with particular emphasis being placed on the different range of spatial and temporal scales that must be considered both in experiment and modelling. The focus is on non-thermal plasma where the lack of thermal equilibrium creates a range of temperature scales that must be considered. This contributes in part to a wide range of inhomogeneity in different properties such as species concentrations and electric fields that must be determined experimentally by in situ methods and be incorporated into modelling. It is concluded that plasma-catalysis is best regarded as conventional catalysis perturbed by the presence of a discharge, which modifies its operating conditions, properties and outcomes often in a very localised way. The sometimes used description “plasma-activated catalysis” is an apt one.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

plasma catalysis / plasma-activated catalysis / non-thermal plasma / CO₂ conversion

References

[1] Kim H H, Teramoto Y, Ogata A, Takagi H, Nanba T. Plasma catalysis for environmental treatment and energy applications. Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing, 2016, 36(1): 45–72

[2] Ray A B, Anderegg F O. The oxidation of carbon monoxide by passage with oxygen or air through the silent discharge and over ozone decomposing catalysts.1. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 1921, 43(5): 967–978

[3] Berthelot P E M. Research on the ozone layer and the effuse electric. Compte Rendu, 1879, 88: 50–52 (in French)

[4] Whitehead J C. Plasma-catalysis: Introduction and history. In: Tu X, Nozaki T, Whitehead J C, eds. Plasma Catalysis. Switzerland: Springer International Publishing AG, 2018, Chapter 1

[5] Whitehead J C. Plasma catalysis for volatile organic compounds abatement. In: Handbook of Advanced Methods and Processes in Oxidation Catalysis. London: Imperial College Press, 2014, 155–172

[6] Whitehead J C. Plasma-catalysis: The known knowns, the known unknowns and the unknown unknowns. Journal of Physics. D, Applied Physics, 2016, 49(24): 243001

[7] Snoeckx R, Bogaerts A. Plasma technology—a novel solution for CO₂ conversion? Chemical Society Reviews, 2017, 46(19): 5805–5863

[8] Neyts E C. Plasma-surface interactions in plasma catalysis. Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing, 2016, 36(1): 185–212

[9] Neyts E C, Ostrikov K, Sunkara M K, Bogaerts A. Plasma catalysis: Synergistic effects at the nanoscale. Chemical Reviews, 2015, 115(24): 13408–13446

[10] Trinh Q H, Mok Y S. Environmental plasma-catalysis for the energy-efficient treatment of volatile organic compounds. Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2016, 33(3): 735–748

[11] Wang Z J, Jang B W L, Liu C J. Recent advances in plasma catalysis (ISPCEM 2016). Topics in Catalysis, 2017, 60(12-14): 797–798

[12] Chen G, Britun N, Godfroid T, Georgieva V, Snyders R, Delplancke-Ogletree M P. An overview of CO₂ conversion in a microwave discharge: The role of plasma-catalysis. Journal of Physics. D, Applied Physics, 2017, 50(8): 084001

[13] Feng X X, Liu H X, He C, Shen Z X, Wang T B. Synergistic effects and mechanism of a non-thermal plasma catalysis system in volatile organic compound removal: A review. Catalysis Science & Technology, 2018, 8(4): 936–954

[14] Wang B F, Xu X X, Xu W C, Wang N, Xiao H L, Sun Y H, Huang H M, Yu L, Fu M L, Wu J L, The mechanism of non-thermal plasma catalysis on volatile organic compounds removal. Catalysis Surveys from Asia, 2018, 22(2): 73–94

[15] Neyts E C. Atomistic simulations of plasma catalytic processes. Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering, 2018, 12(1): 145–154

[16] Bogaerts A, Neyts E C. Plasma technology: An emerging technology for energy storage. ACS Energy Letters, 2018, 3(4): 1013–1027

[17] Holzer F, Roland U, Kopinke F D. Combination of non-thermal plasma and heterogeneous catalysis for oxidation of volatile organic compounds Part 1. Accessibility of the intra-particle volume. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 2002, 38(3): 163–181

[18] Hibert C, Gaurand I, Motret O, Pouvesle J M O H. (X) measurements by resonant absorption spectroscopy in a pulsed dielectric barrier discharge. Journal of Applied Physics, 1999, 85(10): 7070–7075

[19] Kim H H, Teramoto Y, Negishi N, Ogata A. A multidisciplinary approach to understand the interactions of nonthermal plasma and catalyst: A review. Catalysis Today, 2015, 256(1): 13–22

[20] Hensel K. Microdischarges in ceramic foams and honeycombs. European Physical Journal D, 2009, 54(2): 141–148

[21] Gao J L, Zhu J J, Ehn A, Alden M, Li Z S. In-situ non-intrusive diagnostics of toluene removal by a gliding arc discharge using planar laser-induced fluorescence. Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing, 2017, 37(2): 433–450

[22] Vorac J, Hnilica J, Kudrle V, Dvorak P. Spatially resolved measurement of hydroxyl (OH) radical concentration in a microwave plasma jet by planar laser-induced fluorescence. Open Chemistry, 2015, 13(1): 193–197

[23] Saiki Y, Suzuki Y. Effect of wall surface reaction on a methane-air premixed flame in narrow channels with different wall materials. Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, 2013, 34(2): 3395–3402

[24] Zhou J F, Blomberg S, Gustafson J, Lundgren E, Zetterberg J. Simultaneous imaging of gas phase over and surface reflectance of a Pd(100) single crystal during CO oxidation. Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2017, 121(42): 23511–23519

[25] Christensen P A, Ali A B, Mashhadani Z, Carroll M A, Martin P A. The production of ketene and C₅O₂ from CO₂, N₂ and CH₄ in a non-thermal plasma catalysed by earth-abundant elements: An in-situ FTIR study. Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing, 2018, 38(3): 461–484

[26] Stere C E, Adress W, Burch R, Chansai S, Goguet A, Graham W G, Hardacre C. Probing a non-thermal plasma activated heterogeneously catalyzed reaction using in situ DRIFTS-MS. ACS Catalysis, 2015, 5(2): 956–964

[27] Jia Z, Rousseau A. Sorbent track: Quantitative monitoring of adsorbed VOCs under in-situ plasma exposure. Scientific Reports, 2016, 6(1): 31888

[28] Azzolina-Jury F, Thibault-Starzyk F. Mechanism of low pressure plasma-assisted CO₂ hydrogenation over Ni-USY by microsecond time-resolved FTIR spectroscopy. Topics in Catalysis, 2017, 60(19-20): 1709–1721

[29] Wulf A. The Invention of Nature: The Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt, the Lost Hero of Science. London: John Murray, 2015

[30] Neyts E C, Bogaerts A. Understanding plasma catalysis through modelling and simulation—a review. Journal of Physics. D, Applied Physics, 2014, 47(22): 224010

[31] Kraus M, Eliasson B, Kogelschatz U, Wokaun A. CO₂ reforming of methane by the combination of dielectric-barrier discharges and catalysis. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2001, 3(3): 294–300

[32] Roland U, Holzer F, Kopinke F D. Improved oxidation of air pollutants in a non-thermal plasma. Catalysis Today, 2002, 73(3-4): 315–323

[33] Zhang Y R, Van Laer K, Neyts E C, Bogaerts A. Can plasma be formed in catalyst pores? A modeling investigation. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 2016, 185: 56–67

[34] Fridman A. Plasma Chemistry. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008, 142

[35] Zhang Y R, Neyts E C, Bogaerts A. Enhancement of plasma generation in catalyst pores with different shapes. Plasma Sources Science & Technology, 2018, 27(5): 055008

[36] Mizushima T, Matsumoto K, Ohkita H, Kakuta N. Catalytic effects of metal-loaded membrane-like alumina tubes on ammonia synthesis in atmospheric pressure plasma by dielectric barrier discharge. Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing, 2007, 27(1): 1–11

[37] Mei D, Zhu X, He Y L, Yan J D, Tu X. Plasma-assisted conversion of CO₂ in a dielectric barrier discharge reactor: Understanding the effect of packing materials. Plasma Sources Science & Technology, 2014, 24(1): 015011

[38] Michielsen I, Uytdenhouwen Y, Pype J, Michielsen B, Mertens J, Reniers F, Meynen V, Bogaerts A. CO₂ dissociation in a packed bed DBD reactor: First steps towards a better understanding of plasma catalysis. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2017, 326: 477–488

[39] Butterworth T, Elder R, Allen R. Effects of particle size on CO₂ reduction and discharge characteristics in a packed bed plasma reactor. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2016, 293: 55–67

[40] Xu S, Whitehead J C, Martin P A. CO₂ conversion in a non-thermal, barium titanate packed bed plasma reactor: The effect of dilution by Ar and N₂. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2017, 327: 764–773

[41] Zhang Y, Wang H Y, Jiang W, Bogaerts A. Two-dimensional particle-in cell/Monte Carlo simulations of a packed-bed dielectric barrier discharge in air at atmospheric pressure. New Journal of Physics, 2015, 17(8): 12

[42] Koen Van L, Annemie B. Fluid modelling of a packed bed dielectric barrier discharge plasma reactor. Plasma Sources Science & Technology, 2016, 25(1): 015002

[43] Tu X, Whitehead J C. Plasma-catalytic dry reforming of methane in an atmospheric dielectric barrier discharge: Understanding the synergistic effect at low temperature. Applied Catalysis B-Environmental, 2012, 125: 439–448

[44] Glonek K, Wroblewska A, Makuch E, Ulejczyk B, Krawczyk K, Wrobel R J, Koren Z C, Michalkiewicz B. Oxidation of limonene using activated carbon modified in dielectric barrier discharge plasma. Applied Surface Science, 2017, 420: 873–881

[45] Liu L, Zheng C H, Wu S H, Gao X, Ni M J, Cen K F. Manganese-cerium oxide catalysts prepared by non-thermal plasma for NO oxidation: Effect of O₂ in discharge atmosphere. Applied Surface Science, 2017, 416: 78–85

[46] Wang Z, Zhang Y, Neyts E C, Cao X X, Zhang X S, Jang B W L, Liu C J. Catalyst preparation with plasmas: How does it work? ACS Catalysis, 2018, 8(3): 2093–2110

[47] Liu C J, Li M Y, Wang J Q, Zhou X T, Guo Q T, Yan J M, Li Y Z. Plasma methods for preparing green catalysts: Current status and perspective. Chinese Journal of Catalysis, 2016, 37(3): 340–348

[48] Wang W, Wang Z, Wang J, Zhong C J, Liu C J. Highly active and stable Pt-Pd alloy catalysts synthesized by room-temperature electron reduction for oxygen reduction reaction. Advancement of Science, 2017, 4(4): 1600486

[49] Marinov D, Guaitella O, de los Arcos T, von Keudell A, Rousseau A. Adsorption and reactivity of nitrogen atoms on silica surface under plasma exposure. Journal of Physics. D, Applied Physics, 2014, 47(47): 475204

[50] Gibson E K, Stere C E, Curran-McAteer B, Jones W, Cibin G, Gianolio D, Goguet A, Wells P P, Catlow C R A, Collier P, Hinde P, Hardacre C. Probing the role of a non-thermal plasma (NTP) in the hybrid NTP catalytic oxidation of methane. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2017, 56(32): 9351–9355

[51] Nozaki T, Okazaki K. Non-thermal plasma catalysis of methane: Principles, energy efficiency, and applications. Catalysis Today, 2013, 211: 29–38

[52] Kameshima S, Tamura K, Mizukami R, Yamazaki T, Nozaki T. Parametric analysis of plasma-assisted pulsed dry methane reforming over Ni/Al₂O₃ catalyst. Plasma Processes and Polymers, 2017, 14(6): 1600096

[53] Bal K M, Huygh S, Bogaerts A, Neyts E C. Effect of plasma-induced surface charging on catalytic processes: Application to CO₂ activation. Plasma Sources Science & Technology, 2018, 27(2): 024001

[54] Lee J, Sorescu D C, Deng X. Electron-induced dissociation of CO₂ on TiO₂(110). Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2011, 133(26): 10066–10069

[55] Mei D, Zhu X, Wu C, Ashford B, Williams P T, Tu X. Plasma-photocatalytic conversion of CO₂ at low temperatures: Understanding the synergistic effect of plasma-catalysis. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 2016, 182: 525–532

[56] Zhu X B, Zhang S, Yang Y, Zheng C H, Zhou J S, Gao X, Tu X. Enhanced performance for plasma-catalytic oxidation of ethyl acetate over La_1-xCe_xCoO_3+d catalysts. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 2017, 213: 97–105

Open Access

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2019 The Author(s) 2019. This article is published with open access at link.springer.com and journal.hep.com.cn