Oxidation of CO and CH4 on Pd–Fecralloy foam catalysts prepared by spontaneous deposition

• Pd nanoparticles were directly deposited onto Fecralloy foams by galvanic displacement.
• Pd–Fecralloy foams were used as structured catalysts in oxidation reactions.
• The oxidation of CO benefited from direct contact between Pd and Fecralloy substrate.
• The oxidation of CH4 was not affected by low Pd dispersion.
• Activity was good and Pd utilization was effective in both reactions.

The spontaneous deposition of Pd directly onto Fecralloy foam substrates was investigated as a simple and convenient approach to the preparation of structured technological catalysts for environmental applications, avoiding issues typically encountered with washcoated systems. Characterization of freshly prepared catalysts included ion chromatography and ICP–MS, to assess the Pd loading, cyclic voltammetry, to estimate the Pd surface area, SEM–EDX, XRD and TPR/TPO. Cyclic voltammetry, SEM–EDX and XRD were performed also on reaction aged samples. CO and CH4 catalytic oxidation under lean conditions were selected as test reactions occurring respectively in the low (100–300 °C) and mid-high (300–600 °C) temperature ranges. Pd–Fecralloy foam catalysts were found to guarantee good activity with an effective utilization of the noble metal content in spite of their relatively low Pd dispersion.