Engineering oxygen vacancies and nickel dispersion on CeO2 by Pr doping for highly stable ethanol steam reforming

Catalytic steam reforming of ethanol has drawn great attention for hydrogen production. Active and stable catalysts are highly desired in this process. This paper describes the synthesis of various Pr-doped ceria supported Ni catalysts using a simple sol-gel method for ethanol steam reforming. Complete conversion of ethanol with H2 selectivity have been stablely maintained for more than 7200 min over 10Ni-CePr0.20 under high GHSV and low H2O/C ratio. The high performace of 10Ni-CePr0.20 is ascribed to its highly dispersed Ni particles, abundant oxygen vacancies and strong metal-support interaction.