One-pot microwave-assisted synthesis of Cu-Ce0.8Zr0.2O2 with flower-like morphology: Enhanced stability for ethanol dry reforming

A CuCeZr composite oxide (Cu-Ce0.8Zr0.2O2) was prepared via microwave-assisted co-precipitation method and employed in syngas production from dry reforming of renewable ethanol. Its physicochemical features were deeply investigated by a series of characterization technique (XRD, Raman, TPR, SEM and XPS etc). Indeed, the as-prepared composite oxide presented the flower-like morphology structure and exhibited the superior activity and stability even after 50 h on-stream tests for ethanol dry reforming. This attractive behavior was probably assigned to the uniform dispersion of active Cu species and the strong metal-support interaction which could not only efficiently stabilize Cu nanoparticles during the serious reaction conditions but suppress the deactivated coke formation over catalyst surface. The promising findings in this work might stimulate the development of value-added syngas production from renewable biomass-derived feedstocks.