Plasma spraying of transition metal oxide coatings

ABSTRACT

The rapid increase in the world population has drastically increased the generation of organic solid waste. Currently, this is disposed of mainly in landfills, leading to environmental pollution that necessitates the development of new treatment technologies. Catalytic wet oxidation has been proven to be an effective technology for solid waste destruction and the elimination of hazardous organic compounds. The aim of this work is to explore the production of NiO, MnO₂, Fe₂O₃ and CuO as transition metal oxide catalyst coatings using plasma spraying. Little, if any, literature has been presented on the plasma spray deposition of these materials, so this work provides the first proof of concept and benchmark for future development. The coating compositions were quantified from XRD patterns and the coating thickness measured from cross-sectional optical images. The optimal coating from each composition was analysed by scanning electron microscopy to determine the coating microstructure and phase distribution.

KEYWORDS:

• Catalytic wet oxidation
• transition metal oxides
• plasma spray
• catalyst
• in-flight reduction

Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by the University of Auckland. The plasma spray trials were conducted in collaboration with Holster Engineering Co. (2003) Ltd.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).