Preparation, characterization and catalytic properties of CuO/CeO2 system

CeO2 nano-particles and CuO/CeO2 system were prepared by sol-gel and impregnation methods and characterized using combined spectroscopic techniques of XRD, XPS, TPR, FT–Raman, BET and HRTEM. It was found the CeO2 was cubic phase with fluorite structure and CuO was highly dispersed on the CeO2 particles. Temperature-programmed reduction (TPR) showed a two-step reduction for CuO/CeO2 catalysts. XPS analysis indicated the presence of redox couple Ce4+/Ce3+ and reduced copper species in the CuO/CeO2 catalysts. The factors, such as calcination temperature, calcination time and CuO loading, influenced on the catalytic properties of CuO/CeO2 catalysts.