A novel synthetic route for MOF-derived CuO-CeO2 catalyst with remarkable methanol steam reforming performance

The CuO-CeO2 catalyst with high Cu content and dispersion was prepared by pyrolysis of the self-assembled HKUST-1-CeO2 composite, where HKUST-1 represented a typical metal organic framework Cu3(btc)2 (btc = benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylate). The catalyst magnified remarkable performance under a gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) of 31,440 cm3 g−1 h−1, attaining H2 production rate of 3648 ml kgcat−1 s−1 with CO selectivity of 0.5% under 543 K. Characterization results demonstrated that high dispersion of active metal can facilitate oxygen species spillover, accounting for the remarkable catalytic behavior. In situ infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (in situ DRIFT) disclosed the possible reaction pathway for methanol steam reforming (MSR) reaction.