Influence of the Hydrothermal Parameters on the Physicochemical Characteristics of Cu-Ce Oxide Nanostructures

A series of highly active and selective CuCeOx catalysts was prepared via appropriate tuning of the parameters (concentration, temperature) of a citrates-hydrothermal method. The obtained catalysts were characterized by various physicochemical techniques such as (in-situ) X-ray diffraction (XRD), N-2 adsorption-desorption, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), while preferential oxidation of CO (CO-PROX) in H-2-rich stream was used as probe reaction. Suitable modification of the hydrothermal parameters resulted in catalysts with remarkable performance in CO-PROX reaction, which was strongly dependent on the concentration of oxygen vacancies and reduced copper species.