Oxygen storage capability

Higher in activity, but also more costly, are catalysts that contain precious metals such as rhodium, ruthenium, platinum, palladium and rhenium or mixtures thereof [107], while alumina or magnesia [214] and rare earth oxides such as ceria and zirconia or mixtures thereof serve as the carrier material. Rare earth metals have an oxygen storage capability, they interact with the precious metal and generate active sites for hydrocarbon activation [164]. 

In addition to platinum and related metals, the principal active component ia the multiflmctioaal systems is cerium oxide. Each catalytic coaverter coataias 50—100 g of finely divided ceria dispersed within the washcoat. Elucidatioa of the detailed behavior of cerium is difficult and compHcated by the presence of other additives, eg, lanthanum oxide, that perform related functions. Ceria acts as a stabilizer for the high surface area alumina, as a promoter of the water gas shift reaction, as an oxygen storage component, and as an enhancer of the NO reduction capability of rhodium. 

Since OSC (Oxygen Storage Capacity) was introduced as a way of determining on quantitative basis the capability of ceria-based supports to release oxygen under reducing conditions, and to uptake it under oxidising conditions (359), numerous studies (35,98,160,180,186,203,249,337,341,354.362-367) have included OSC measurements, as a routine way of characterising the redox properties of these catalytic systems. 

As with alumina, ceria has several roles to play within the catalyst formulation. It has some effect on stabilizing alumina surface area at high temperatures, and it is also capable of stabilizing the dispersion of platinum in these systems, important because the effect is particularly marked in the 600-800°C region, where many present-day catalysts operate. In addition, ceria allows two other more directly performance-related phenomena to take place oxygen storage and the water gas shift reaction shown in Eq. (9) ... 

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