The stability of palladium supported on ceria (Pd/CeO2) was studied during liquid flow transfer hydrogenation using primary and secondary alcohols as hydrogen donors. For primary alcohols, the ceria support was reduced to cerium hydroxy carbonate within 14 h and was a contributing factor toward catalyst deactivation. For secondary alcohols, cerium hydroxy carbonate was not observed during the s...

Title of Document: QUANTIFYING THE ROLE OF CERIUM OXIDE AS A CATALYST IN SOLID OXIDE FUEL CELL ANODES Steven C. DeCaluwe, Doctor of Philosophy, 2009 Directed By: Associate Professor Gregory S. Jackson, Department of Mechanical Engineering Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) are an important electrochemical power conversion device, due largely to their high efficiencies and ability to directly oxidiz...

Catalysts based on single atoms of scarce precious metals can lead to more efficient use through enhanced reactivity and selectivity. However, single atoms on catalyst supports can be mobile and aggregate into nanoparticles when heated at elevated temperatures. High temperatures are detrimental to catalyst performance unless these mobile atoms can be trapped. We used ceria powders having simila...

Nickel/doped-ceria composites are promising electrocatalysts for solid-oxide fuel and electrolysis cells. Very often steam is present in the feedstock of the cells, frequently mixed with other gases, such as hydrogen or CO2 . An increase in the steam concentration in the feed mixture is considered accountable for the electrode oxidation and the deactivation of the device. However, direct experi...

Ceria is a technologically important material with applications in catalysis, emissions control and solid-oxide fuel cells. Nanostructured ceria becomes profoundly more active due to its enhanced surface area to volume ratio, reactive surface oxygen vacancy concentration and superior oxygen storage capacity. Here we report the synthesis of nanostructured ceria using the green Deep Eutectic Solv...

There is a growing attention to enhance the performance of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) electrodes through incorporation nano-catalyst materials within electrodes’ active sites. In this study, we report technique for increased efficiency and microstructural control infiltration process polymerized norepinephrine (pNE) treatment. Nano-CeO2 catalysts were incorporated both commercial anode-suppor...

This paper reports a study on nanocrystalline ceria powder prepared by high energy ball-milling and combustion synthesis methods. The combustion synthesis was carried out using ceric ammonium nitrate as oxidizer and citric acid, glycine or citric acid plus glycine as fuel. The minimum crystallite size of ceria powder is obtained by combustion synthesis of ceric ammonium nitrate and citric acid....

Doped ceria is considered as an electrolyte for solid oxide fuel cell applications. The introduction of dopants in the ceria lattice will affect its electronic structure and, in turn, its ionic conductivity. Simulation of these issues using density functional theory becomes complicated by the random distribution of the constituent atoms. Here we use the generalized gradient approximation with o...

Palladium supported on high-surface-area ceria effectively catalyzes the hydrogenation of phenol to cyclohexanone at atmospheric pressure and room temperature. Activation of H2 at Pd sites and phenol at surface ceria sites was investigated by probing the redox properties of the catalyst and studying the mechanism of phenol adsorption. Temperature-programmed reduction and pulsed chemisorption we...

This paper discusses the effect of adding reduced erbium-doped ceria nanoparticles (REDC NPs) as a coating on silicon solar cells. Reduced ceria nanoparticles doped with erbium have the advantages of both improving conductivity and optical conversion of solar cells. Oxygen vacancies in ceria nanoparticles reduce Ce4+ to Ce3+ which follow the rule of improving conductivity of solar cells through...