The effect of impregnation strategy on methane dry reforming activity of Ce promoted Pt/ZrO2

Dry reforming of methane has been studied over Pt/ZrO2 catalysts promoted with Ce for different temperatures and feed compositions. The influence of the impregnation strategy and the cerium amount on the activity and stability of the catalysts were investigated. The results have shown that introduction of 1 wt.% Ce to the Pt/ZrO2 catalyst via coimpregnation method led to the highest catalytic activity and stability. 1 wt.%Ce–1 wt.%Pt/ZrO2 catalyst prepared by sequential impregnation displayed inferior CH4 and CO2 conversion performances with lowest H2/CO production ratios. 1 wt.%Ce–1 wt.%Pt/ZrO2 catalyst prepared by coimpregnation showed the highest activity even for the feed with high CH4/CO2 ratio. The reason for high activity was explained by the intensive interaction between Pt and Ce phases for coimpregnated sample, which had been verified by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Energy Dispersive X-Ray analyses. Strong and extensive Pt–Ce surface interaction results in an increase in the number of Ce3+ sites and enhances the dispersion of Pt.