We studied the catalytic properties of copper-cerium oxide systems, deposited on supports obtained by calcination of yttrium-stabilized zirconium dioxide at 300-1000°C, in the reaction of selective oxidation of CO in a stream of hydrogen. We have shown that the catalytic activity of the samples obtained correlates with the activity of the original supports in the reaction of CO oxidation: the highest CO conversion is observed on catalysts with the highest and the lowest specific surface area.
Key words: selective oxidation of CO in a stream of hydrogen, nanosized zirconium dioxide, copper-cerium-zirconium catalysts.Binary copper-cerium oxide systems and ternary systems based on them, obtained by depositing copper and cerium on various supports, exhibit high catalytic activity in synthesis of hydrogen by steam reforming of organic compounds and also subsequent purification of the hydrogen by the water-gas shift reaction and selective oxidation of CO [1][2][3]. Despite the relatively large number of publications devoted to study of such systems, the possibilities for improving their physicochemical and functional properties have been far from exhausted. We showed earlier that in a series of copper-cerium oxide catalysts deposited on manganese, titanium, aluminum, and zirconium oxides, the highest CO conversions and selectivities during its selective oxidation in hydrogen-rich mixtures are observed in samples where the support is zirconium dioxide of the monoclinic modification with low specific surface area [4]. In the course of a comparative study, during CO oxidation for samples of nanostructured zirconium dioxide, it was observed that the dependence of their catalytic properties on the thermal treatment conditions is nonmonotonic: the lowest 100% CO conversion temperatures are achieved not only on the zirconium dioxide sample heated at 300°C and characterized by high dispersity and specific surface area, but also on zirconium dioxide heated at 1000°C, for which the analogous parameters were smaller by an order of magnitude [5]. This conflicts with conventional ideas about the decrease in catalytic activity with a decrease in specific surface area of solid materials and an increase in their particle sizes. 0040-5760/09/4502-0125