Preferential oxidation of CO in excess hydrogen over a nanostructured CuO–CeO2 catalyst with high surface areas

CuO–CeO₂ is prepared by coprecipitation and ethanol washing and characterized using BET, HR-TEM, XRD and TPR techniques. The results show that CuO–CeO₂ is nanosized (r_TEM = 6.5 nm) and possesses high surface area (S_BET = 138 m² g⁻¹). Furthermore, some lattice defects in the surface of CuO–CeO₂ are found, which are beneficial to enhance catalytic performance of CuO–CeO₂ in preferential oxidation of CO in excess hydrogen (PROX). Consequently, the nanostructured CuO–CeO₂ exhibits perfect catalytic performance in PROX. Namely, CO content can be lowered to less than 100 ppm at 150 °C with 100% selectivity of O₂ in the presence of 8% CO₂ and 20% H₂O at .