Effect of samarium and praseodymium addition on water gas shift performance of Co/CeO2 catalysts

The performance of Co supported over ceria and doped ceria (by Sm and Pr) catalysts towards the water gas shift reaction was studied for the removal of CO from syngas to produce high purity hydrogen for a fuel cell application. It is found that 1%Co/Ce-5%Sm-O yields the highest catalytic performance towards this reaction compared with undoped-Sm and doped-Pr. An addition of Sm onto ceria support reveals a small crystallite size with high surface area and well dispersed cobalt on ceria surface. Moreover, a presence of Sm increases the reducibility of cobalt species and surface oxygen. The positive effect of Sm on increasing the WGS activity of Co/CeO2 is because Sm contributes to the reduction of Ce4+ to Ce3+ which gives rise to oxygen vacancies and facilitates the electron movement at the surface leading to an ease of surface reduction. (C) 2020 Chinese Society of Rare Earths. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.