Loading clusters composed of nanoparticles on ZrO2 support via a perovskite-type oxide of La0.95Ce0.05Co0.7Cu0.3O3 for ethanol synthesis from syngas and its structure variation with reaction time

Abstract

A new scheme was proposed to intensify interactions between copper with cobalt and between CuCo with the promoters, namely, the ions of copper, cobalt, lanthanum and cerium were confined into La0.95Ce0.05Co0.7Cu0.3O3 with perovskite structure and were supported on zirconia. The catalyst was prepared by impregnation method and used for ethanol synthesis (ES) from syngas and was characterized by using XRD, TG, BET, XPS, ICP-MS and TEM techniques. La0.95Ce0.05Co0.7Cu0.3O3/ZrO2 showed very good catalytic performance with selectivity to total alcohols higher than 60% and selectivity to ethanol about 50% in the total alcohols. After reduction, clusters composed of CuCo alloy nanoparticles, ceria and lanthanum oxide was formed and loaded on zirconia. Investigation on the variation of the catalyst structure with reaction time showed that with the reaction going on, the clusters spread over the surface of ZrO2 and at last, all the clusters fused together to form a membrane loaded on the ZrO2 and the whole catalyst was covered by a membrane-like coating formed by Co2C. The characterization results showed that the carbon deposition was the main reason for the deactivation of La0.95Ce0.05Co0.7Cu0.3O3/ZrO2 catalyst. This catalyst design scheme could be extended for preparing a lot of catalyst for many reactions.