Construction of porous Cu/CeO₂ catalyst with abundant interfacial sites for effective methanol steam reforming

Methanol is a promising hydrogen carrier for fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) via methanol steam reforming (MSR) reaction. Ceria supported copper catalyst has attracted extensive attentions due to the extraordinary oxygen storage capacity and abundant oxygen vacancies. Herein, we developed a colloidal solution combustion (CSC) method to synthesize a porous Cu/CeO₂(CSC) catalyst. Compared with Cu/CeO₂ catalysts prepared by other methods, the Cu/CeO₂(CSC) catalyst possesses highly dispersed copper species and abundant Cu⁺-O_v-Ce³⁺ sites at the copper-ceria interface, contributing to methanol conversion of 66.3 %, CO₂ selectivity of 99.2 %, and outstanding hydrogen production rate of 490 mmol g_cat^-1 h^-1 under 250 °C. The linear correlation between TOF values and Cu⁺-O_v-Ce³⁺ sites amount indicates the vital role of Cu⁺-O_v-Ce³⁺ sites in MSR reaction, presenting efficient ability in activation of water. Subsequently, a deep understanding of CSC method is further presented. In addition to serving as a hard template, the colloidal silica also acts as disperser between nanoparticles, enhancing the copper-ceria interactions and facilitating the generation of Cu⁺-O_v-Ce³⁺ sites. This study offers an alternative approach to synthesize highly dispersed supported copper catalysts.