Preparation and characterisation of Cu/ZnO and Pd/ZnO catalysts for partial oxidation of methanol. Control of catalyst surface area and particle size using microemulsion technique

Abstract

In this work, Cu/ZnO and Pd/ZnO catalysts for partial oxidation of methanol have been prepared by microemulsion technique. The microemulsion technique is a versatile preparation method, which enables control of catalyst surface area and particle size. The water-to-surfactant ratio (Wo) governs the water droplet size in the microemulsion and the influence of Wo on catalyst properties was studied. It was found that CuO/ZnO surface areas as high as 87 m2/g could be obtained by varying W0 in the microemulsion. Furthermore, effective control of the Pd particle size (10–16 nm) was possible. The catalysts were characterised by TGA, BET, XRD and TEM.