Enhanced catalytic decomposition of formaldehyde in low temperature and dry environment over silicate-decorated titania supported sodium-stabilized platinum catalyst.

• Pt/SiO x -TiO 2 efficiently decomposes HCHO in low temperature and dry environment. • SiO x -TiO 2 is obtained by adding SiO 2 in synthesis of titanate and ion-exchange. • Silicate and sodium-stabilized Pt are two structural factors for good performance. Development of the environment-tolerant catalyst can contribute to pollutant treatment in extreme environment. In the present work, precursor of the silicate-decorated titania (SiO x -TiO 2) was prepared by incorporating silica into hydrothermal synthesis of TiO 2 nanowire (TNT). After loading Pt nanoparticles by impregnation, the as-prepared catalyst (Pt/SiO x -TiO 2) possessed 7.2 times and 13.6 times the HCHO decomposition rate of Pt/TNT and conventional Pt/TiO 2 , respectively, at the temperature of 30 °C and the relative humidity of ∼5 %. Structure-performance relationship analyses showed that the excellent catalytic performance of Pt/SiO x -TiO 2 was closely related to the presence of silicate and formation of sodium-stabilized Pt nanoparticles. The heterogeneously decorated silicate in Pt/SiO x -TiO 2 had the excellent ability of capturing water from environment and even from HCHO decomposition itself. Consequently, the sodium-stabilized Pt nanoparticles of Pt/SiO x -TiO 2 could be maintained in a wet microenvironment to exhibit the excellent HCHO decomposition performance in low temperature and dry environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]