Effect of nature of ceria support in CuO/CeO2 catalyst for PROX-CO reaction

In order to understand the effect of CeO2 on the preferential CO oxidation reaction (PROX-CO), the support cerium oxide was prepared by hydrothermal (CeO2-HT) and precipitation (CeO2-PP) methods. The catalyst supported on CeO2-HT exhibited higher activity than CuO/CeO2-PP. Characterization revealed that CuO was better dispersed on the CuO/CeO2-HT surface favoring the PROX-CO reaction, compared to CuO/CeO2-PP. Also, the nature of ceria was important for enhancing the metal-support interaction, which affects the catalytic activity. The CuO/CeO2-HT catalyst was less sensitive to presence of CO2 and H2O, remaining stable in a 24 h run. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.