Influence of the support in selective CO oxidation on Pt catalysts for fuel cell applications

One crucial requirement for the proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) is to feed clean hydrogen to the anode, which is rapidly poisoned by traces of CO present from the upstream hydrocarbon reforming and water–gas shift processes. The removal of CO can be achieved by using catalysts able to selectively oxidize CO in the presence of excess hydrogen. Herein we report the effect of the support on Pt catalysts for total and selective oxidation (SELOX) of CO. The catalysts supported on ceria and zirconia presented higher activity than alumina and silica supported catalysts in SELOX reaction at low temperatures, but with lower CO conversions.