Poly(ionic liquid)-supported gold and ruthenium nanoparticles toward the catalytic wet air oxidation of ammonia to nitrogen under mild conditions

In this study, gold (Au) and ruthenium (Ru) atoms were successfully anchored onto poly(ionic liquid)s (PILs) containing imidazolium-based ionic liquids (ILs) and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA), thereby yielding efficient heterogeneous encapsulated metal catalysts Au/PILs and Ru/PILs for the catalytic wet air oxidation (CWAO) of ammonia. The as-synthesized catalysts were characterized via X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy mapping, and transmission electron microscopy. The results indicated that the metal nanoparticles with uniform distribution could be produced due to the interactions between the supports and the metals, leading to an excellent catalytic property for catalysts. These catalysts exhibited good activity and stability for the CWAO of ammonia with high selectivity to nitrogen (N 2 ) under mild conditions. Compared with the Au/PILs catalyst giving 65.8% conversion with a selectivity of 99%, the Ru/PILs catalyst provided 86.5% ammonia conversion with 95% selectivity to N 2 under 1 MPa at 160 °C in 4 h.