Synthesis and catalytic activity of Au-supported porous TiO2 nanospheres for CO oxidation

Au-supported TiO2 nanospheres catalyst was prepared by a simple in-situ solution reduction method using amino acid (lysine) as the capping agent. The catalyst was characterized by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), N2 adsorption–desorption, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Preliminary CO oxidation tests demonstrate that the Au-supported TiO2 nanospheres showed high activity for CO conversion even at room temperature (conversion 78% at 20 °C) in comparison to pristine TiO2. The enhanced catalyst performance is ascribed to the synergic interaction between the porous TiO2 nanospheres and Au nanoparticles. The facile procedure reported in this work may provide potential for preparing other noble metal-supported catalyst.