Catalytic combustion study of soot on Ce0.7Zr0.3O2 solid solution

The Ce0.7Zr0.3O2 solid solution and CeO2 were prepared using the sol-gel method. The phase structure, crystallite sizes and the reducibility of the catalysts were characterized by XRD and H2-TPR techniques. XRD results indicated that Zr4+ had replaced part of Ce4+ to form a fluorite-like solid solution, which was favorable to obtain ultrafine nanoparticles. The ratio of main H2 consumption for Ce0.7Zr0.3O2:CeO2 was 4.4:1.0, implying that the solid solution could improve the reducibility compared to the single CeO2. The Ce0.7Zr0.3O2 solid solution catalyst showed a sharp combustion peak at 397 °C, which was 200 oC lower than that of the single soot. The good catalytic activity of the Ce0.7Zr0.3O2 was attributed to the formation of nano-CeO2-based solid solution, which enhanced the reducibility and then improved the combustion activity. As Ce0.7Zr0.3O2 could be easily reduced to Ce0.7Zr0.3O2-x, meanwhile, after oxygenation, the Ce0.7Zr0.3O2-x was recovered to Ce0.7Zr0.3O2 completely. A catalytic combustion reaction mechanism was proposed: the Ce0.7Zr0.3O2 was reduced to Ce0.7Zr0.3O2-x by the reaction with carbon and then it was recovered to Ce0.7Zr0.3O2-x by the interaction with O2.