Abstract: The silver screen catalyst used for the catalytic decomposition of highly concentrated hydrogen peroxide was plated on the nickel base. Pretreatment with hydrogen peroxide was employed to promote the initial catalytic activity of the catalyst. The results indicated that the initial activity and the start-up performance of the catalyst were greatly improved by the pretreatment with 90% of hydrogen peroxide. The scanning electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results showed that a lot of fissures and active species of Ag2O appeared on the silver screen surface after the pretreatment. These probably are the main reasons for the improvement of the catalyst activity.

Key words: hydrogen peroxide, decomposition, silver screen catalyst, pretreatment