Effect of the alkoxides addition order on the properties of Pd/Al2O3–ZrO2 catalysts used for methane combustion

A series of Pd/Al2O3–ZrO2 catalysts were prepared to be used in methane oxidation. The effect of the addition order of metal alkoxides on the texture, structure and catalytic properties of the solids is studied. The control of the preparation parameters is achieved via sol gel way as an attractive route of the preparation of these catalysts. N2 physisorption, XRD, Scanning Electronic Microscopy (SEM) and H2 chemisorption are the main techniques used to characterize the prepared Pd/Al2O3–ZrO2 catalysts. Textural analysis reveals the mesoporosity of all the catalysts independently of the addition order of alkoxides while surface area is more pronounced when the aluminium alkoxide is added before or with the zirconium precursor. XRD patterns show the development of the zirconia tetragonal phase for all the catalysts. Better metallic dispersion is obtained when aluminium alkoxide is added first which can be justified by the high homogeneity observed on the corresponding catalyst as revealed by SEM technique.