Influence of preparation methods on CuO-CeO2 catalysts in the preferential oxidation of CO in excess hydrogen

Influence of three different preparation methods, i.e. impregnation, coprecipitation, and inverse coprecipitation, on the preferential oxidation of CO in excess hydrogen (PROX) over CuO-CeO2 catalysts has been investigated and CuO-CeO2 catalysts are characterized using BET, XPS, XRD, UV Raman, and TPR techniques. The results show that the catalysts prepared by coprecipitation have smaller particle sizes, well-dispersed CuOx species, more oxygen vacancies, and are more active in the PROX than those prepared by the other methods. However, the inverse coprecipitation depresses the catalytic performance of CuO-CeO2 catalysts and causes the growth of CuO-CeO2 because of different pH value in the precipitation process.