Surface and structural properties of Pt/CeO2 catalyst under preferential CO oxidation in hydrogen (PROX)

Preferential oxidation of CO in the presence of excess hydrogen was studied on Pt/CeO2 with 5% metal loading. Catalytic data were similar to those observed on 1% Pt/CeO2 earlier [Wootsch et al. J. Catal. 225 (2004) 259]. The optimum temperature region is T373 K; conversion and selectivity of CO oxidation strongly decreased at higher temperatures. High-pressure XPS indicated CO adsorbed on platinum particles and significant amount of water on the ceria surface. The top-most ceria surface re-oxidized as small amount of oxygen (3%) was introduced into the H2/CO feed. Despite this surface re-oxidation, high-resolution TEM after reaction indicated oxygen deficient ceria bulk structure, in which the defects formed a super-cell, with CeO1.695 structure. The defective ceria is suggested to play an important role stabilizing the hydrogen bonded surface water, which (i) suppresses further hydrogen oxidation and (ii) reacts at the metal/support interface with linearly adsorbed CO in a low temperature water-gas-shift type reaction to produce CO2