Facile fabrication of hollow structured Cu-Ce binary oxides and their catalytic properties for toluene combustion

Abstract

A series of hollow structured CuCeOx composite catalysts with different Cu/Ce molar ratios were synthesized via a simple hydrothermal approach, which were applied in catalytic combustion of toluene. The XRD and Raman results indicate that partial of Cu ions are incorporated into CeO2 lattice, forming Cu-O-Ce solid solution. This strengthens the synergistic interaction between CuO and CeO2, enhancing the amounts of oxygen vacancies and low-temperature reducibility. Among the serial catalysts, the Cu6Ce4Ox catalyst exhibits superior catalytic performance, and its 90% conversion (T90) is 260 ℃. The high surface area, low-temperature reducibility, and abundant surface active oxygen species are main factors for superior catalytic performance. The DRIFTs result further clarifies the possible pathway for toluene oxidation, that toluene is converted via benzyl alcohol, benzaldehyde, and benzoate species as main intermediates and is finally decomposed to CO2 and H2O.