Catalytic Performance of CeO2/ZnO Nanocatalysts on the Oxidative Coupling of Methane with Carbon Dioxide and their Fractal Features

CeO2/ZnO nanocatalysts were prepared from the coupling route of homogeneous precipita-tion with microemulsion and the impregnation method. The catalytic performance of these two kinds of catalysts on the oxidative coupling of methane with carbon dioxide was tested and compared; the frac-tal behavior of the nanocatalysts was analyzed using fractal theory. The CeO2/ZnO nanocatalysts had much higher activity than the catalysts prepared by impregnation method. There was no regular relation-ship between the average size of CeO2/ZnO nanocatalysts and their catalytic performance; however, the conversion of methane increased with the increase of the fractal dimension of CeO2/ZnO nanocatalysts.