CO oxidation on mesoporous SBA-15 supported CuO–CeO2 catalyst prepared by a surfactant-assisted impregnation method

Abstract

A series of mesoporous SBA-15 supported CuO–CeO₂ catalysts were prepared by a surfactant-assisted impregnation method with PEG 200 as the surfactant. The effects of the content of PEG 200 in the impregnating solution on physicochemical properties and catalytic activity of the prepared CuO–CeO₂/SBA-15 catalysts were studied by XRD, adsorption–desorption of N₂ at −196 °C, SEM/EDX, TEM, Raman spectroscopy, XPS, in situ DRIFTS, H₂-TPR, CO-TPD techniques, and low-temperature CO oxidation testing. The results show that the surfactant-assisted impregnation method has a substantial effect on the distribution and dispersion of components, synergetic effect between copper species and ceria and the catalyst prepared with the PEG content of V_PEG : V_H2O = 1 has the best catalytic performance: the temperature for 99% CO conversion decreased significantly to 155 from 195 °C without the addition of PEG. The enhanced catalytic performance can be ascribed to more finely dispersed Cu species on ceria and more active sites.