Reduction of CO2 to CO via reverse water-gas shift reaction over CeO2 catalyst

Abstract

CeO2 catalysts with different structure were prepared by hard-template (Ce-HT), complex (Ce-CA), and precipitation methods (Ce-PC), and their performance in CO2 reverse water gas shift (RWGS) reaction was investigated. The catalysts were characterized using XRD, TEM, BET, H2-TPR, and in-situ XPS. The results indicated that the structure of CeO2 catalysts was significantly affected by the preparation method. The porous structure and large specific surface area enhanced the catalytic activity of the studied CeO2 catalysts. Oxygen vacancies as active sites were formed in the CeO2 catalysts by H2 reduction at 400 °C. The Ce-HT, Ce-CA, and Ce-PC catalysts have a 100% CO selectivity and CO2 conversion at 580 °C was 15.9%, 9.3%, and 12.7%, respectively. The highest CO2 RWGS reaction catalytic activity for the Ce-HT catalyst was related to the porous structure, large specific surface area (144.9 m2∙g−1) and formed abundant oxygen vacancies.