Pure hydrogen production via PROX over gold catalysts supported on Pr-modified ceria

Abstract Two series of Pr-doped (5 and 10 at.% Pr) cerium oxides were synthesized by impregnation (IM) and microemulsion method (ME). The Au catalysts (3 wt.%) supported on these oxides were tested in PROX. The samples were characterized by XRD, XPS and TPR measurements. At the operating temperature of the fuel cells (80–120 °C) gold catalysts on Pr-doped ceria supports synthesized by IM method exhibited much higher PROX activity as compared to the case of ME method. The observed different catalytic behavior was attributed to the different support preparation affecting the gold particle sizes and the mixed support features. In the case of mixed supports synthesized by IM the size of gold particles established by XRD is smaller and the supply of oxygen evidenced by the obtained TPR results is higher as compared to the gold catalysts on the ME prepared mixed supports. The higher gold dispersion as well as the more defective structure assumed by higher microstrain parameter of ceria lattice (XRD data) due to Pr-doping by IM method, improved both the reducibility and the PROX activity up to 120 °C.