A novel experimental setup for determination of CO content to characterize catalyst performance for application of sealed-off CO2 laser

Noble metal-loaded reducible oxide (NMRO) materials are advancing as efficient room temperature CO oxidation catalysts with the potential for developing long-life sealed-off CO2 lasers, which traditionally use gold nanoparticles that are only active during glow discharge. During the operation of sealed-off CO2 lasers, monitoring of CO concentration in the presence of identical mass N2 in the laser gas mixture is crucial to check the effectiveness of the catalyst, and conventional measurement techniques are costly and time-consuming. We introduce a novel, rapid, and economical method for determining the CO concentration in the laser gas mixture using a commercial portable gas analyzer. It enables controlled, small-scale CO generation and detection with enhanced lab safety through dissociation of CO2 gas in electric discharge and evaluation of catalytic performance of various synthesized NMRO catalysts in a quick, precise, and economical manner.