Effect of Cu/CeO₂ catalyst preparation methods on their characteristics for low temperature water−gas shift reaction: A detailed study

To investigate the effect of Cu/CeO₂ catalysts preparation methods for low temperature water−gas shift reaction, Cu/CeO₂ catalysts were prepared with various impregnation sequences and applied to the water−gas shift reaction at a high gas hourly space velocity of 36,080 mL/g·h. The catalyst preparation method affected both the Cu−Ce synergistic effect and the physico−chemical properties of the Ce promoted Cu/CeO₂ catalysts, such as specific surface area, Cu particle size, Cu dispersion, amount of active Cu species and oxygen vacancy concentration. Among the prepared catalysts, Cu–Ce/CeO₂ showed the highest CO conversion because of the high contents of active Cu species and high concentration of oxygen vacancies.