Exhaust gas purification catalyst

1. An exhaust gas purification catalyst which is configured to be arranged in an exhaust pipe of an internal combustion engine and configured to purify an exhaust gas exhausted from the internal combustion engine, the exhaust as purification catalyst comprising:

a base material; and

a catalyst layer formed on the base material and having an alkaline-earth metal carrying region including:

a porous carrier particle constituted of an inorganic compound,

Pt carried on the porous carrier particle, and

a sulfuric acid salt of at least one alkaline-earth metal carried on an outer surface of and inside of the porous carrier particle in a dispersed state,

wherein a value of R Ae/Pt is 0.5 or more, where R Ae/Pt represents a Pearson's correlation coefficient, the Pearson's correlation coefficient being determined by:

performing an area analysis of a cross section of the alkaline-earth metal carrying region of the catalyst layer by FE-EPMA under a condition of:

pixel size 0.34 μm×0.34 μm; and

number of measured pixels 256×256; and

measuring an intensity (α: cps) of a characteristic X ray of an element (Ae) of the alkaline-earth metal and an intensity (β: cps) of a characteristic X ray of Pt for each pixel.

2. The exhaust gas purification catalyst according to claim 1 , wherein

the value of the correlation coefficient R Ae/Pt is 0.7 or more.

3. The exhaust gas purification catalyst according to claim 1 , wherein

an average particle diameter based on the X-ray diffraction method of the alkaline-earth metal sulfuric acid salt carried on the porous carrier particle is 30 nm or less.

4. The exhaust gas purification catalyst according to claim 1 , further comprising a catalyst layer including Rh as a catalyst metal on the downstream side in the direction in which the exhaust gas in the catalyst layer flows.

5. The exhaust gas purification catalyst according to claim 1 , wherein the alkaline-earth metal sulfuric acid salt includes at least barium sulfate (BaSO 4 ).

6. A method for manufacturing an exhaust gas purification catalyst according to claim 1 , the method comprising the steps of:

forming, on a base material, a catalyst layer having, at at least one part thereof, an alkaline-earth metal carrying region which includes:

a porous carrier constituted of an inorganic compound,

Pt carried on the porous carrier, and

a sulfuric acid salt of at least one alkaline-earth metal carried on the porous carrier; and

firing the base material which has the catalyst layer formed thereon, wherein

the formation step of the catalyst layer includes:

mixing the following components:

an inorganic compound particle forming the porous carrier;

a Pt particle or a precursor for precipitating Pt;

a water-soluble compound of the alkaline-earth metal; and

a S-containing water-soluble organic compound containing S as a constituent element, and capable of forming the sulfuric acid salt of the alkaline-earth metal;

with an aqueous solvent, to prepare a raw material suspension,

drying and further firing the raw material suspension, thereby preparing a powder material including the porous carrier, Pt, and the sulfuric acid salt of the alkaline-earth metal mixed therein,

preparing a slurry for forming an alkaline-earth metal carrying region, including at least the powder material and an aqueous solvent, and

forming the alkaline-earth metal carrying region on the base material using the slurry.

7. The method for manufacturing an exhaust gas purification catalyst according to claim 6 , wherein the S-containing water-soluble organic compound is a water-soluble organic matter having at least one functional group of a sulfo group (—SO 3 H), a sulfonyl group (—S(═O) 2 —), and a sulfinyl group (—S(═O)—).

8. The method for manufacturing an exhaust gas purification catalyst according to claim 6 , wherein the water-soluble compound of the alkaline-earth metal is an acetic acid salt, a nitrous acid salt, or an iodide of any alkaline-earth metal selected from Ba, Sr, and Ca.