สุณิสา ศุภคณาพิทักษ์. The Study of Preparation of Nano-sized CeO2 by Different Microemulsion Methods. Doctoral Degree(Chemical Engineering). King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi. KMUTT Library. : King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, 2011.
The Study of Preparation of Nano-sized CeO2 by Different Microemulsion Methods
Abstract:
Nano-sized CeO2 particles were prepared by three different types of emulsion such as
reversed micelle (RM), emulsion liquid membrane (ELM), and colloidal emulsion
aphrons (CEAs). Ammonium cerium nitrate and polyoxyethylene-4-laurylether
(PE4LE) were used as cerium and surfactant source in this study. The precursor was
calcined at 500 ํC to obtain CeO2. The effect of the preparation method on the average
particle size, surface area, percent yield and the morphology of the prepared powders
were investigated. The obtained powders were highly crystalline, nearly spherical
shape. The average particle size and the specific surface area of the powders from the
three methods were in the range of 4-10 nm and 5.32-145.73 m the power of 2/g, respectively. The
CeO2 powders synthesized by CEAs were the smallest average particle size, the highest
surface area, and yield, therefore this method was selected to produce nano-sized CeO2
in the next experiment. Then, the effects of cerium source, surfactant type, calcination
temperature, and water content on the particles synthesized by using CEAs were
investigated. The synthesized sample was characterized by XRD, BET, TGA, and TEM.
It was found that all cerium sources and surfactants produced crystalline CeO2
nanoparticles after being calcined at 450 ํC. The average particle size and specific
surface area were in the range of 5-7 nm and 138.8 - 154.8 m the power of 2/g, respectively. The
surface tension of a cerium solution has slightly effect on the particle size of CeO2.
Comparison of three different nonionic surfactants, it was found that the average
particle size decreased with increasing hydrocarbon (hydrophobic group) chain length
of surfactant. When ionic surfactant was used the average particle size of CeO2 was
smaller than nonionic surfactant. Increasing calcination temperature increased
crystallinity and growth of particle size but decreased the specific surface area.
Moreover, increasing water content decreased the final particle of CeO2.
In the study of methane steam reforming on synthesized CeO2 was studied. It was found
that the conversion of CH4 was 18.6%. The quantity of carbon deposited on the CeO2
surface was 0.05 mmol/g. In the final experiment, improvements of stability and activity
toward methane steam reforming of CeO2 by loaded Ni on CeO2 was examined with
three different procedures: (I) impregnated CeO2 (from CEAs preparation) into
Ni(NO3)2 solution (10 wt.% Ni), (II) impregnated CeO2 (from CEAs preparation) into
colloidal emulsion aphrons of Ni, and (III) added an external water phase containing
cerium solution and nickel solution into CEAs preparation. It was found that Ni/CeO2
prepared by method II showed high hydrogen consumption and methane conversion,
therefore this method was considered suitable for catalyst preparation. In addition,
improvement of thermal stability of Ni/CeO2 particle was investigated by adding ZrO2.
It was found that the addition of ZrO2 to CeO2 provided higher surface area than pure
CeO2, which means the increasing of the thermal stability. The synthesized catalysts
were tested in the methane steam reforming at 900 ํC and the performances were
compared. At steady state, it was found that the conversion of CH4 of CeO2, CeO2-
ZrO2, Ni/CeO2, and Ni/CeO2-ZrO2 was 18.9, 24.7, 71.3 and 81.5%, respectively. The
quantities of carbon deposited on the Ce02, CeO2-ZrO2, Ni/CeO2, and Ni/CeO2-ZrO2
surface was 0, 0.12, 0.14, and 0.08 mmol/g, respectively. The results showed that the
great advantage of Ni on CeO2 based supports demonstrate higher reforming reactivity
and also the higher stability due to their excellent resistance toward carbon formation at
high temperature compared with pure CeO2. These benefits were related to the high
oxygen storage capacity (OSC) of high surface area Ce-ZrO2 support.