Investigation on the structure stability and catalytic activity of Cu-Co binary oxides

This paper reports the catalytic application of bimetallic oxides with dispersion of different Cu/Co ratios on steel mesh prepared by chemical vapor deposition. The synthesized samples were characterized with respect to structure, textural analysis and elemental composition. The lattice stability limit was determined by a newly designed in-situ Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Fourier Transform Spectroscopy (DRIFTS). The results showed the progressive incorporation of cobalt in copper oxide and the formation of CuO/CoO mixture or mixed oxides with uniform sphere-like morphologies. Besides introducing more adsorbed oxygen, the cobalt addition tends to improve the upper stability limit of the Cu-Co oxides. The obtained Cu-Co binary oxides exhibit excellent performance for the total oxidation of CO and C3H6 as model molecules. A cooperative effect of the catalytic performance and the thermal stability as a consequence of the cobalt incorporation in the matrix of CuO has been revealed. The catalysts containing low cobalt content were substantially more active but less stable than the binary Cu-Co catalysts with higher Co content in the oxide phase. These results provide potential criteria for the application of Cu-Co oxides depending on the stability and activity. (C) 2016 by The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc.