*Article* **Catalytic Removal of NOx on Ceramic Foam-Supported ZnO and TiO2 Nanorods Ornamented with W and V Oxides**

**Maciej Kapkowski 1, Tomasz Siudyga 1, Piotr Bartczak 1, Maciej Zubko 2,3, Rafal Sitko 1, Jacek Szade 4, Katarzyna Balin 4, Bartłomiej S. Witkowski 5, Monika Ozga ˙ 5, Rafał Pietruszka 5, Marek Godlewski 5 and Jaroslaw Polanski 1,\***


**Abstract:** Energy consumption steadily increases and energy production is associated with many environmental risks, e.g., generating the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions. The primary gas pollution concern is CO2, CH4, and nitrogen oxides (NOx). Environmental catalysis plays a pivotal role in NOx mitigation (DeNOx). This study investigated, for the first time, a collection of ceramic foams as potential catalyst support for selective catalytic NOx reduction (SCR). Ceramic foams could be an attractive support option for NOx removal. However, we should functionalize the surface of raw foams for such applications. A library of ceramic SiC, Al2O3, and ZrO2 foams ornamented with nanorod ZnO and TiO2 as W and V oxide support was obtained for the first time. We characterized the surface layer coating structure using the XPS, XRF and SEM, and TEM microscopy to optimize the W to V molar ratio and examine NO2 mitigation as the SCR model, which was tested only very rarely. Comparing TiO2 and ZnO systems reveals that the SCR conversion on ZnO appeared superior vs. the conversion on TiO2, while the SiC-supported catalysts were less efficient than Al2O3 and ZrO2-supported catalysts. The energy bands in optical spectra correlate with the observed activity rank.

**Keywords:** ceramic foams; ZnO nanorods; TiO2 nanorods; NOx mitigation (deNOx); environmental nanocatalysis; selective catalytic reduction SCR; W and V catalytic sites
