The shell components of core-shell catalysts often have a protective effect, which can effectively reduce the exposure of the active site to SO
2, H
2O, and other harmful components, prevent the sulfation of the active components and the formation of byproducts such as ammonium bisulfate to a certain extent, and inhibit H
2O and some acidic gases leading to catalyst poisoning inactivation. At the same time, the shell can be used as an effective barrier to prevent the agglomeration of nanoparticles at high temperatures and enhance the thermal stability of the catalyst. Zhang
et al. [
117] introduced a novel core-shell composite material, Cu/SSZ-13@CeO
2. Characterization results indicated that encapsulating Cu/SSZ-13 with a CeO
2 shell markedly enhances hydrothermal stability by maintaining the functionality of [Cu(OH)]
+ active sites and averting their deactivation. Yang
et al. [
118] developed a novel Fe
3O
4@TiO
2-Ce core-shell catalyst for removal by the heterogeneous Fenton method. The characterization results showed that the number of TiO
2 particles encapsulating the Fe
3O
4 core increased significantly after Ce doping, indicating that Ce doping affected the hydrolysis of tetrabutyl titanate (TBOT) and promoted the deposition of TiO
2 on the surface of Fe
3O
4. The shell layer of TiO
2 had a protective effect on the core of Fe
3O
4, and the doping of Ce could enhance the water resistance of the catalysts by preventing the entry of H
2O into the interface of the two phases and inhibiting the formation of hydroxyl groups at the active sites. Zhang
et al. [
119] prepared the core-shell structured catalyst meso-Cu-SSZ-13@MAS (mesoporous aluminosilicate) using a combination of alkaline desilication and self-assembly. The hydrothermal aging Cu-SSZ-13 and meso-Cu-SSZ-13 catalysts lost the NH
3-SCR activity, and the core-shell structured meso-Cu-SSZ-13@MAS catalysts still showed better activity. The EPR results showed that hydrothermal treatment had significantly different effects on the active sites of the three catalysts. As can be seen from
Figs. 4a-
c, two major Cu
2+ species (labeled as
α and
β) were present in the three fresh samples. After hydrothermal aging, the
α and
β species in Cu-SSZ-13 and meso-Cu-SSZ-13 decreased, and new Cu
2+ species (labeled as
γ) appeared, indicating the collapse of the zeolite structure in both samples. In contrast, both
α and
β species on meso-Cu-SSZ-13@MAS had minimal changes, and almost no
γ species were formed, suggesting the high hydrothermal stability of meso-Cu-SSZ-13@MAS. In addition, propene caused coke deposition on the active component, reducing catalytic performance. In contrast, the meso-Cu-SSZ-13@MAS catalyst had fewer active sites for propylene oxidation reaction, so the catalyst also had a high resistance to propylene poisoning. Yan
et al. [
96] mainly adopted the idea of the synergistic effect of shielding and protective effects with acid redox. Using the dry gel transformation method, they synthesized the core-shell structured catalyst MnCeO
x@Z5 with a mesoporous zeolite (ZSM-5) as the shell and Mn-Ce composite oxides as the core. The shell layer of the MnCeO
x@Z5 catalyst reduced the active component’s contact with SO
2, which could inhibit the sulfation of active metal oxides to a certain extent. At the same time, the mesoporous ZSM-5 shell layer could also effectively inhibit the reaction between adsorbed SO
2 and NH
3 species, reducing the formation of sulfate and avoiding the clogging of shell pores by sulfate species. In addition, the ZSM-5 shell layer in the MnCeO
x@Z5 catalyst was inherently hydrophobic and exhibited a certain degree of resistance to poisoning even in the atmosphere containing water and sulfur. As shown in
Fig. 4d, when 100 ppm of SO
2 and 5 vol% H
2O were jointly introduced at 300 ℃, the NO conversion decreased from 100% to 75% for the MnCeO
x@Z5 catalyst. Whereas the NO conversion of the supported catalyst, MnCeO
x/Z5, rapidly decreased by 50% under the same conditions, indicating that the formation of a core-shell structure is beneficial for improving the sulfur resistance of the catalyst.