Copper Oxide Clusters Stabilized by Ceria for CO, C3H6, and NO Abatement

A strong interaction between a metal oxide and support has long been indicative of its promotion of catalytic activities. In connection with this, we investigated the interaction of CuO with γ-Al2O3 and CeO2 for producing highly efficient catalysts for CO, C3H6, and NO abatement. In particular, the dispersion and thermal aging resistance of CuO clusters on different supports were studied. CuO clusters can be stabilized by interaction with CeO2, while on γ-Al2O3 they aggregated into larger particles at high CuO loadings. On the other hand, due to the poor thermal stability of CeO2, CuO clusters dispersed on it were sintered during an aging treatment at 950 °C. Accordingly, by pre-dispersing CeO2 on γ-Al2O3 followed by CuO dispersion, stabilized CuO clusters were obtained that were based on the superior aging resistance of the γ-Al2O3 support. Therefore, better catalytic performance and thermal aging properties were obtained with a CuO/CeO2/γ-Al2O3 catalyst as compared with CuO/γ-Al2O3 and CuO/CeO2 samples.