Ceria nanorod supported gold nanoparticles as structured catalysts for the oxidative steam reforming of methanol: Effect of CTAB concentration on physiochemical properties and catalyst performance

Abstract

Ceria (CeO2) supports were synthesized by hydrothermal treatment with different Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) concentrations (CeO2-X: 0.135, 0.270, 0.540 and 1.080, where X is the CTAB concentration in mmol). The micro-structures of bundle-like ceria nanorods (NR) were produced by thermal treatment of the crystalline Ce(OH)CO3 precursor. The exposed crystal planes of (200) and (111), corresponding to the d-spacing of 0.27 and 0.31 nm, were confirmed by high resolution-transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). The fundamental characteristics of CeO2-0.135 led to the highest surface area, surface area normalized reducibility and oxidized gold species (Aun+/Au0) on the surface, relatively higher oxygen vacancies and a smaller average gold particle size (7.9 nm). The activity results show that the Au/CeO2-0.135 has the highest methanol conversion and H2 production rate for oxidative steam reforming of methanol (OSRM). The reducibility and gold particle size played a crucial role in determining the H2/CO2 ratio at the temperature of 200 °C.