The Influence of Hydrophobic Structure on the Performance of Pt/Ceramic Hydrophobic Catalyst

This research adopted column porous ceramics (φ=5 mm) as the carriers, the hydrophobic carriers with three different kinds of nanostructured cerium oxide (CeO₂) coating were fabricated and then catalysts which were used in hydrogen isotope separation were manufactured by convenient impregnation method, and the catalytic activity were tested through catalytic exchange reaction between hydrogen and saturated water vapor. The samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, EDX, XPS and CO adsorption to verify the influence of hydrophobic structure on the properties of catalyst. The results showed that the hydrophobic nanostructure made no influence on the pore structure of carriers and the metallic Pt content, while the influence of that on the Pt particle dispersion and the enrichment of Pt on surface layer were remarkable. Fluff hydrophobic structure with uniform distribution and serried coverage were more effective to improve the activity of catalyst. Although that structure lead to the decrease of Pt particle dispersion, it could make the Pt particles mostly deposit on the surface layer of the catalysts, which would make more Pt particle participate in the reaction in the same time and the increased catalytic activity could be obtained.