Cerium dioxide (CeO2, ceria) is becoming an ubiquitous constituent in catalytic systems for a variety of applications. 2016 sees the 40(th) anniversary since ceria was first employed by Ford Motor Company as an oxygen storage component in car converters, to become in the years since its inception an irreplaceable component in three-way catalysts (TWCs). Apart from this well-established use, ceria is looming as a catalyst component for a wide range of catalytic applications. For some of these, such as fuel cells, CeO2-based materials have almost reached the market stage, while for some other catalytic reactions, such as reforming processes, photocatalysis, water-gas shift reaction, thermochemical water splitting, and organic reactions, ceria is emerging as a unique material, holding great promise for future market breakthroughs. While much knowledge about the fundamental characteristics of CeO2-based materials has already been acquired, new characterization techniques and powerful theoretical methods are deepening our understanding of these materials, helping us to predict their behavior and application potential. This review has a wide view on all those aspects related to ceria which promise to produce an important impact on our life, encompassing fundamental knowledge of CeO2 and its properties, characterization toolbox, emerging features, theoretical studies, and all the catalytic applications, organized by their degree of establishment on the market.

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Carbon dioxide is a desired feedstock for platform molecules, such as carbon monoxide or higher hydrocarbons, from which we will be able to make many different useful, value-added chemicals. Its catalytic hydrogenation over abundant metals requires the amalgamation of theoretical knowledge with materials design. Here we leverage a theoretical understanding of structure sensitivity, along with a library of different supports, to tune the selectivity of methanation in the Power-to-Gas concept over nickel. For example, we show that carbon dioxide hydrogenation over nickel can and does form propane, and that activity and selectivity can be tuned by supporting different nickel particle sizes on various oxides. This theoretical and experimental toolbox is not only useful for the highly selective production of methane, but also provides new insights for carbon dioxide activation and subsequent carbon–carbon coupling towards value-added products thereby reducing the deleterious effects of this environmentally harmful molecule.

Carbon-supported, Pt and PtCo nanocrystals (NCs) with controlled size and composition were synthesized and examined for hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). Experiments in a continuous flow reactor with 1-propanol solvent, at 120 to 160 °C and 33 bar H2, demonstrated that reaction is sequential on both Pt and PtCo alloys, with 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF) formed as an intermediate product. However, the reaction of DMF is greatly suppressed on the alloys, such that a Pt3Co2 catalyst achieved DMF yields as high as 98%. XRD and XAS data indicate that the Pt3Co2 catalyst consists of a Pt-rich core and a Co oxide surface monolayer whose structure differs substantially from that of bulk Co oxide. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that the oxide monolayer interacts weakly with the furan ring to prevent side reactions, including overhydrogenation and ring opening, while providing sites for effective HDO to the desired product, DMF. We demonstrate that control over metal nanoparticle size and composition, along with operating conditions, is crucial to achieving good performance and stability. Implications of this mechanism for other reactions and catalysts are discussed

The concept of self-regenerating or "smart" catalysts, developed to mitigate the problem of supported metal particle coarsening in high-temperature applications, involves redispersing large metal particles by incorporating them into a perovskite-structured support under oxidizing conditions and then exsolving them as small metal particles under reducing conditions. Unfortunately, the redispersion process does not appear to work in practice because the surface areas of the perovskite supports are too low and the diffusion lengths for the metal ions within the bulk perovskite too short. Here, we demonstrate reversible activation upon redox cycling for CH oxidation and CO oxidation on Pd supported on high-surface-area LaFeO, prepared as a thin conformal coating on a porous MgAlO support using atomic layer deposition. The LaFeO film, less than 1.5 nm thick, was shown to be initially stable to at least 900 °C. The activated catalysts exhibit stable catalytic performance for methane oxidation after high-temperature treatment.

This brief review is focused on recent advancements in methane catalytic oxidation, an important reaction for environmental remediation and clean power generation. Particular attention is given to Pd-based catalysts and novel strategies to gain a fundamental understanding of the reaction mechanism [a] 2885 hindered due to the high stability of the C-H bond (104 kcal mol -1 ). Nonetheless, in the presence of a catalyst, the apparent activation energy can be as low as 7-10 kcal mol -1 . As mentioned previously, Pd-based catalysts are highly active for Eur.

Hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) was examined over well-defined and uniform, Pt-Ni, Pt-Zn and Pt-Cu alloyed nanocrystals (NCs) supported on carbon, at 33 bar and between 160 and 200 °C. Pt-Ni alloy catalysts were prepared in three different Pt:Ni ratios, Pt6Ni, Pt3Ni, and PtNi. While all of the Pt-Ni alloys were more selective for producing 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF) than were Pt or Ni monometallic catalysts, the Pt3Ni catalyst was superior to the other compositions, exhibiting a yield of 98% due to its optimum surface composition. Similarly high yields were obtained on catalysts prepared from Pt2Zn and PtCu NCs. Possible reasons are given for why each of the Pt-alloy catalysts is highly selective

The influence of water vapor on methane catalytic combustion was studied over a Pd@CeO2/Si‐Al2O3 catalyst, carefully designed to maximize Pd‐CeO2 interaction and prevent metal sintering and compared to a conventional impregnated catalyst with identical chemical composition. Although the nanostructured Pd@CeO2/Si‐Al2O3 catalyst is thermally stable, the addition of water to the reaction feed leads to a transient deactivation at low temperatures, consistent with the well documented competitive adsorption. In addition to this, the hierarchically structured catalyst exhibits an additional severe deactivation after methane oxidation in the presence of water vapor at 600 °C that can be reversed only by heating the catalyst above 700 °C. The presence of water in the reaction feed deactivates the conventional impregnated catalyst less severely and the activity largely returns upon water removal. Catalytic FTIR and CO‐chemisorption data indicate that this severe deactivation process in the hierarchical catalyst is due to the formation of stable OH groups on the surface of the ceria nanoparticles. These hydroxyl groups are suggested to significantly inhibit the oxygen spillover from the CeO2 nanoparticles to Pd, preventing its efficient re‐oxidation, as observed by operando X‐ray absorption near edge spectroscopy (XANES) experiments. At the same time, their presence can contribute to limit the gas phase accessibility of Pd, as indicated by the decrease of CO chemisorption capability. The presence of hydroxyls plays a minor role on the deactivation of the conventional catalyst at 600 °C.