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1. Nanoshaped CeO2 and SiO2 Supported Ru catalyst for Plasma Catalysis Chemical Looping Reactions

   Rajagopalan, Ranganathan; Zhongqi, Liu; Harigovind, Menon; Shaon, Talukdar; Ruigang, Wang; Mruthunjaya, Uddi (November 2020, International journal of energy engineering)

   null (Ed.)

   Chemical Looping Reaction is a key strategy to achieve both emission reduction and carbon utilization while producing various value-added chemicals, through redox reactions. Here we study the effect of nanoshape ceria supported Ru catalysts for plasma assisted Chemical Looping Reforming reduction step coupled with water splitting oxidation step reactions in the temperature range 150 ⁰C to 400 ⁰C at 1 atm pressure. The oxygen carrier/catalyst combination materials used are Ru/CeO2 nanorods (NR), Ru/CeO2 nanocubes (NC), Ru/SiO2 nanospheres (NS), and Ni-based perovskite mixed with CeO2. NRs and NCs showed the best catalytic performance followed by Ni-based perovskite and NS. Differences in the selectivity and reactivity for the NRs and NCs were noticed. The NCs showed slightly higher selectivity towards H2 formation during reduction step and lesser carbon deposition. From the analysis of data and literature, it is proposed that the spillover of species such as H adatoms and CHx radicals after activation at Ru sites into the CeO2 supports and lattice O mobility may be slightly faster in the case of NCs. During the oxidation step, the NR and NC materials showed increased H2 production by a factor of more than 4 when compared to Ni based perovskite material. 

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2. Elucidation of Ce/Zr ratio effects on the physical properties and catalytic performance of CuOx/CeyZr1−yO2 catalysts

   https://doi.org/10.1039/D4CY01012D  

   Sifat, Mohammed; Luchowski, Michal; Pophali, Amol; Jiang, Wenhui; Lu, Yunfan; Kim, Byeongseok; Kwon, Gihan; Yoon, Kwangsuk; Kim, Jihun; An, Kwangjin; et al (October 2024, Catalysis Science & Technology)

   Although cerium oxide (CeO2) is widely used as a catalyst support, its limited defect sites and surface oxygen vacancy/mobility should be improved. The incorporation of zirconium (Zr) in the cerium (Ce) lattice is shown to increase the number of oxygen vacancies and improve catalytic activity. Using a fixed surface density (SD) of copper (∼2.3 Cu atoms per nm2) as a surface species, the role of the support (CeyZr1−yO2 (y = 1.0, 0.9, 0.6, 0.5, and 0.0)) and defect site effects in the CO oxidation reaction was investigated. Spectroscopic (e.g., Raman, XRD, XPS) and microscopic (e.g., SEM-EDX, HR-TEM) characterization techniques were applied to evaluate the defect sites, crystallite size, lattice parameters, chemical composition, oxidation states of elements and microstructure of the catalysts. The CO oxidation reaction with varied CO:O2 ratios (1 : 5, 1 : 1, and 1 :0.5 (stoichiometric)) was used as a model reaction to describe the relationship between the structure and the catalytic performance of each catalyst. Based on the characterization results of CeyZr1−yO2 materials, the addition of Zr causes physical and chemical changes to the overall material. The inclusion of Zr into the structure of CeO2 decreased the overall lattice parameter of the catalyst and increased the number of defect sites. The prepared catalysts were able to reach complete CO conversion (∼100%) at low temperature conditions (<200 °C), each showing varied reaction activity. The difference in CO oxidation activity was then analyzed and related to the structure, wherein Cu loading, surface oxygen vacancies, reduction–oxidation ability, CuOx–support interaction and oxygen mobility in the catalyst were the crucial descriptors. 

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3. Development of ceria-supported metal-oxide (MOx/CeO2) catalysts via a one-pot chemical vapor deposition (OP-CVD) technique: Structure and reverse water gas shift reaction study

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2024.158726  

   Pophali, Amol; Shimogawa, Ryuichi; Zhang, Lihua; Kwon, Gihan; Yoon, Kwangsuk; Roh, Jangeon; Kim, Do Heui; Song, Hocheol; Frenkel, Anatoly I; Kim, Taejin (January 2025, Chemical Engineering Journal)

   Current synthesis techniques for metal oxide (MOx)-supported catalysts have certain limitations of undesired target loading, ineffective dispersion of active species over the surface, uncontrolled particle size of active species, and complicated synthesis steps. We developed a one-pot chemical vapor deposition (OP-CVD) methodology; by using which a solid metal precursor forms a vapor in a controlled condition and gets supported over the surrounding matrix. The theoretical stability followed by experimental validation using TGA is crucial for selecting the metal precursors. Three simple steps viz. premixing, dispersion, and rapid fixation by calcination are involved in the catalyst development via the OP-CVD approach. This study solely focused on the synthesis of 3d transition MOx over ceria support. The physicochemical characterizations of the prepared catalysts were performed by XRD, ICP-OES, SEM-EDX, CO pulse chemisorption, XANES, and EXAFS analyses to understand the crystal structure of involved species, target metal loading, dispersion, and particle size and prove the feasibility and viability of OP-CVD. The prepared catalysts were further tested for reverse water gas shift (RWGS) reaction to link their structural information with activity. The RWGS reaction data showed that the CO activity and CO selectivity were metal - and metal precursor-dependent. Higher CO activity of > 0.1 mol/h g-cat was observed for Cu and Co-based catalysts, with CO selectivity of ~100 %. This study provides an opportunity to produce effcient supported catalysts in a convenient way, providing effective catalytic activity. 

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4. Non-equilibrium plasma-assisted dry reforming of methane over shape-controlled CeO ₂ supported ruthenium catalysts

   https://doi.org/10.1039/D3TA01196H  

   Ahasan, Md Robayet; Hossain, Md Monir; Ding, Xiang; Wang, Ruigang (May 2023, Journal of Materials Chemistry A)

   In this report, CeO 2 and SiO 2 supported 1 wt% Ru catalysts were synthesized and studied for dry reforming of methane (DRM) by introducing non-thermal plasma (NTP) in a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) fixed bed reactor. From quadrupole mass spectrometer (QMS) data, it is found that introducing non-thermal plasma in thermo-catalytic DRM promotes higher CH 4 and CO 2 conversion and syngas (CO + H 2 ) yield than those under thermal catalysis only conditions. According to the H 2 -TPR, CO 2 -TPD, and CO-TPD profiles, reducible CeO 2 supported Ru catalysts presented better activity compared to their irreducible SiO 2 supported Ru counterparts. For instance, the molar concentrations of CO and H 2 were 16% and 9%, respectively, for plasma-assisted thermo-catalytic DRM at 350 °C, while no apparent conversion was observed at the same temperature for thermo-catalytic DRM. Highly energetic electrons, ions, and radicals under non-equilibrium and non-thermal plasma conditions are considered to contribute to the activation of strong C–H bonds in CH 4 and C–O bonds in CO 2 , which significantly improves the CH 4 /CO 2 conversion during DRM reaction at low temperatures. At 450 °C, the 1 wt% Ru/CeO 2 nanorods sample showed the highest catalytic activity with 51% CH 4 and 37% CO 2 conversion compared to 1 wt% Ru/CeO 2 nanocubes (40% CH 4 and 30% CO 2 ). These results clearly indicate that the support shape and reducibility affect the plasma-assisted DRM reaction. This enhanced DRM activity is ascribed to the surface chemistry and defect structures of the CeO 2 nanorods support that can provide active surface facets, higher amounts of mobile oxygen and oxygen vacancy, and other surface defects. 

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5. Catalytic oxidation of propane over palladium alloyed with gold: an assessment of the chemical and intermediate species

   https://doi.org/10.1039/c8cy01704b  

   Kareem, Haval; Shan, Shiyao; Wu, Zhi-Peng; Velasco, Leslie; Moseman, Kelli; O'Brien, Casey P.; Tran, Dat T.; Lee, Ivan C.; Maswadeh, Yazan; Yang, Lefu; et al (November 2018, Catalysis Science & Technology)

   Understanding the catalytic oxidation of propane is important for developing catalysts not only for catalytic oxidation of hydrocarbons in emission systems but also for selective oxidation in the chemical processing industry. For palladium-based catalysts, little is known about the identification of the chemical or intermediate species involved in propane oxidation. We describe herein findings of an investigation of the catalytic oxidation of propane over supported palladium nanoalloys with different compositions of gold (Pd n Au 100−n ), focusing on probing the chemical or intermediate species on the catalysts in correlation with the bimetallic composition and the alloying phase structure. In addition to an enhanced catalytic activity, a strong dependence of the catalytic activity on the bimetallic composition was revealed, displaying an activity maximum at a Pd : Au ratio of 50 : 50 in terms of reaction temperature. This dependence is also reflected by its dependence on the thermochemical treatment conditions. While the activity for nanoalloys with n ∼ 50 showed little change after the thermochemical treatment under oxygen, the activities for nanoalloys with n < 50 and n > 50 showed opposite trends. Importantly, this catalytic synergy is linked to the subtle differences of chemical and intermediate species which have been identified for the catalysts with different bimetallic compositions by in situ measurements using diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS). For the catalytic oxidation of propane over the highly-active catalyst with a Pd : Au ratio of 50 : 50, the major species identified include acetate and bicarbonate, showing subtle differences in comparison with the identification of bicarbonate and formate for the catalyst with <50% Au (with a lower activity) and the absence of apparent species for the catalyst with >50% Au (activity is largely absent). The alloying of 50% Au in Pd is believed to increase the oxophilicity of Pd, which facilitates the first carbon–carbon bond cleavage and oxygenation of propane. The implications of the findings on the catalytic synergy of Pd alloyed with Au and the design of active Pd alloy catalysts are also discussed. 

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