We investigated the effect of reductants over Fe-MFI catalysts (Fe-MFI) based on the catalytic performance in N2O reduction in the absence of oxygen. The TOFs of N2O decomposition and N2O reduction by various reductants (H2,CO, CH4)increased with increasing Fe/Al ratio (Fe/Al≥0.15). As the result of extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) analysis, only mononuclear Fe species were observed over Fe(0.10)-MFI after N2O or O2 treatment. On the other hand, binuclear Fe species were also observed over Fe(0.40)-MFI after treatment with N2O. More reducible Fe species, which gave lower-temperature O2 desorption, can be due to Fe binuclear species. Since the N2O reduction with reductants proceeds via a redox mechanism, the reducible binuclear Fe species can exhibit higher activity than the mononuclear one. Furthermore, CH4 can be oxidized under the presence of N2O more easily than can H2 and CO, although it is generally known that the reactivity of methane is very low.
