CO Oxidation over Cu/Ce Binary Oxide Prepared via the Solvothermal Method: Effects of Cerium Precursors on Properties and Catalytic Behavior

Cu/Ce binary oxides were prepared via the one-pot solvothermal method, and the effects of different cerium precursors (cerium nitrate and cerium ammonium nitrate) on the catalytic activity and resistance to water vapor or CO2 of the prepared samples for low-temperature CO oxidation reaction were investigated. The physicochemical characteristics of the catalysts were characterized via thermal analyses (TG-DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, N2 adsorption/desorption, inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (in situ DRIFTs), and temperature-programmed reduction with H2 (H2-TPR). The results indicated that the CuO/CeO2 catalyst (CC-N) prepared with cerium nitrate showed higher activity for low-temperature CO oxidation, which can be ascribed to its larger specific surface area and pore volume, higher amounts of highly dispersed CuO species with strong interaction with CeO2, Cu+ species, and more active surface oxygen species, compared with the counterpart prepared with cerium ammonium nitrate (CC-NH). Furthermore, the CC-N catalyst also exhibited better resistance to CO2 poisoning than CC-NH.