The preparation and catalytic behavior of copper–cerium oxide catalysts for low-temperature carbon monoxide oxidation Original Research Article

CeO2 nano-crystals were synthesized by a sol–gel process and then used as support for CuO/CeO2 (sol–gel) catalysts prepared via impregnation method. For comparison, the commercial CeO2 was also used as a support for CuO/CeO2 (commercial) catalysts prepared via the same method. The samples were characterized by means of BET, XRD, UV–vis, TPR and XPS. The catalytic properties of the CuO/CeO2 catalysts for low-temperature CO oxidation were studied by using a microreactor-GC system. The prepared spherical CeO2 nano-crystals have much smaller particle size, better crystallinity and larger surface area than the commercial CeO2. XPS analysis indicated the presence of reduced copper species in the CuO/CeO2 catalysts. TPR showed that there are different copper species in the catalysts. The influence of calcination time, temperature and CuO loadings on the catalytic activity of CuO/CeO2 catalysts has been studied. The CuO/CeO2 (sol–gel) catalysts exhibited higher catalytic activity than the CuO/CeO2 (commercial) catalysts. Compared with CuO/CeO2 catalysts prepared via other techniques, our catalysts exhibited similar or even better catalytic performance.