Preparation of a Cu–Ce–O Catalyst by Urea Combustion for Removing CO from Hydrogen

Combustion-Synthesized Porous CuO-CeO2-SiO2 Composites as Solid Catalysts for the Alkenylation of C(sp3)-H Bonds Adjacent to a Heteroatom via Cross-Dehydrogenative Coupling

A series of mixed oxides of CuO, CeO2, and SiO2 were prepared by gel combustion and employed for the first time as efficient solid catalysts in a solvent-less liquid-phase cross-dehydrogenative coupling. The facile one-pot catalyst synthesis resulted in highly porous materials presenting large specific surface areas and strong metal–support interactions. The interaction with highly dispersed CeO2 enhanced the redox properties of the CuO species. The CuO-CeO2-SiO2 composites exhibited excellent catalytic performance for the selective coupling between 1,1-diphenylethylene and tetrahydrofuran with a yield up to 85% of 2-(2,2-diphenylvinyl)-tetrahydrofuran in the presence of di-tert-butyl peroxide (DTPB) and KI. Albeit both CuO and CeO2 species are proved to be responsible for the catalytic conversion, a great synergistic improvement in the catalytic activity was obtained by extended contact between the oxide phases by high porosity in comparison with the reactions using individual Cu or Ce catalysts. The activity of the composite catalyst was shown to be highly stable after five successive reaction cycles. Furthermore, the study scope was extended to the synthesis of different derivatives via composite-catalyzed coupling of C(sp2)-H with C(sp3-H) adjacent to a heteroatom. The good yields recorded proved the general validity of this composite for the cross-dehydrogenative coupling reaction rarely performed on solid catalysts.

Improved CO-PROX Performance of CuO/CeO2 Catalysts by Using Nanometric Ceria as Support

Despite of the huge number of papers about the catalytic preferential oxidation of CO (CO-PROX) for the purification of H2 streams, there is still a need for more effective catalysts in order to reduce the large required catalyst volume of CO-PROX unity. In this work, large surface area nanometric ceria was used as support for CuO/CeO2 catalysts with CuO load up to 10 wt % easily dispersed by wet impregnation. Catalysts were characterized by ICP-MS, XRD, SEM/EDS, N2 physisorption, H2 temperature programmed reduction (TPR), and CO2 temperature programmed desorption (TPD) and tested under different reaction conditions (including under feed containing inhibiting species such as CO2 and H2O). Catalytic tests revealed that our samples show high activity and selectivity even under stringent reaction conditions; moreover, they result among the most active catalysts when compared to those reported in the scientific literature. The high activity can be related to the enhanced amount of highly dispersed copper sites in strong interaction with ceria related to the nature of the nanometric support, as evidenced by the characterization techniques. Despite the high concentration of active copper sites, catalytic performance is limited by CO2 desorption from ceria in the neighborhood of copper sites, which prevents a further improvement. This suggests that new catalyst formulations should also provide a lower affinity towards CO2.

Efficient 2-Nitrophenol Chemical Sensor Development Based on Ce2O3 Nanoparticles Decorated CNT Nanocomposites for Environmental Safety

Ce₂O₃ nanoparticle decorated CNT nanocomposites (Ce₂O₃.CNT NCs) were prepared by a wet-chemical method in basic medium. The Ce₂O₃.CNT NCs were examined using FTIR, UV/Vis, Field-Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), X-ray electron dispersive spectroscopy (XEDS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and powder X-ray diffraction (XRD). A selective 2-nitrophenol (2-NP) sensor was developed by fabricating a thin-layer of NCs onto a flat glassy carbon electrode (GCE, surface area = 0.0316 cm²). Higher sensitivity including linear dynamic range (LDR), long-term stability, and enhanced electrochemical performances towards 2-NP were achieved by a reliable current-voltage (I-V) method. The calibration curve was found linear (R² = 0.9030) over a wide range of 2-NP concentration (100 pM ~ 100.0 mM). Limit of detection (LOD) and sensor sensitivity were calculated based on noise to signal ratio (~3N/S) as 60 ± 0.02 pM and 1.6×10⁻³ μAμM^-1cm^-2 respectively. The Ce₂O₃.CNT NCs synthesized by a wet-chemical process is an excellent way of establishing nanomaterial decorated carbon materials for chemical sensor development in favor of detecting hazardous compounds in health-care and environmental fields at broad-scales. Finally, the efficiency of the proposed chemical sensors can be applied and utilized in effectively for the selective detection of toxic 2-NP component in environmental real samples with acceptable and reasonable results.