LAUSR

Abstract Mn-Ce composite oxides were regarded as a promising alternative to substitute V-based catalysts for the abatement of NO x . However, the obstacles in activity, selectivity and SO 2 /H 2 O tolerance still remained. In this paper, titanate nanotubes (TNTs) were used to tune the property of Mn-Ce composite oxides and led to an outstanding catalytic performance in selective catalytic reduction of NO by NH 3 within middle temperature region. Compared with conventional MnCe/TiO 2 and V 2 O 5 /TiO 2 nanoparticle catalysts, a higher NO conversion with good SO 2 /H 2 O tolerance could be observed at 200–300 °C over the prepared MnCe/TNTs catalyst. More interestingly, much lower N 2 O concentration was detected in the SCR reaction over this catalyst. Characterization results revealed that MnCe/TNTs had larger BET surface area and greatly enhanced NH 3 adsorption, which were beneficial to SCR activity. Moreover, the growth of MnO 2 was improved and the redox property of the catalyst was tuned in the nano-confined space of TNTs. Thus the oxidative abstraction of hydrogen from ammonia was suppressed, resulting in less N 2 O production.