Facile preparation of Fe-Y catalyst under water-free conditions for selective catalytic reduction of NO x by ammonia

A series of Fe-Y zeolite catalysts with different Fe loading were prepared by ferrocene sublimation under solvent and water-free conditions. The dispersion, structure and morphology of the iron species on the Fe-Y catalysts were characterized by XRD, TEM and UV-Vis. The catalytic activities of Fe-Y samples were measured in selective catalytic reduction of NO with ammonia (NH₃-SCR). The results showed that the iron species on the HY zeolite support were mainly made up of isolated Fe³⁺ ions, Fe _x O _y oligomers and a little amount of < 3 nm spherical Fe₂O₃ particles. Isolated Fe³⁺ ions are predominating among all the Fe-Y catalysts. The sum of isolated Fe³⁺ ions and Fe _x O _y oligomers took up more than 90% percent of total iron species on the Fe-Y till 10.0 wt% loading of Fe.