A review of smart exsolution catalysts for the application of gas phase reactions

Perovskite-type oxides with the nominal composition of ABO3 can exsolve the B-site transition metal upon the controlled reduction. In this exsolution process, the transition metal emerges from the oxide lattice and migrates to the surface at which it forms catalytically active nanoparticles. The exsolved nanoparticles can recover back to the bulk lattice under oxidation treatment. This unique regeneration character by the redox treatment provides uniformly dispersed noble metal nanoparticles. Therefore, the conventional problem of traditional impregnated metal/support, i.e., sintering during reaction, can be effectively avoided by using the exsolution phenomenon. In this regard, the catalysts using the exsolution strategy have been well studied for a wide range of applications in energy conversion and storage devices such as solid oxide fuel cells and electrolysis cells (SOFCs and SOECs) because of its high thermal and chemical stability. On the other hand, although this exsolution strategy can also be applied to gas phase reaction catalysts, it has seldomly been reviewed. Here, we thus review recent applications of the exsolution catalysts to the gas phase reactions from the aspects of experimental measurements, where various functions of the exsolved particles were utilized. We also review non-perovskite type metal oxides that might have exolution phenomenon to provide more possibilities to develop higher efficient catalysts.