Development of next-generation supported metal catalyst through heteroatom doping of $CeO_2$ support

Abstract

Heterogeneous catalysts are being actively used in the fields from valuable chemical synthesis to energy and environment related industries, and their importance is becoming more prominent. Among them, the metal nanoparticle catalyst supported on the stable oxide has excellent utilization due to its relatively high mechanical durability and high surface to volume ratio of nanoparticles. Among them, cerium dioxide is a support typically used in automobile exhaust catalyst or solid oxide fuel cells. It that can be easily synthesized into a high specific surface area, has oxygen ion conductivity and phase stability against redox atmosphere, and also shows metal-support interaction. In the case of cerium dioxide, through doping with heteroatom, it is possible to control the detailed characteristics such as defect structure and electronic structure while maintaining the basic properties, and through this, it is intended to develop a next-generation metal support catalyst with high durability and activity. In particular, in this thesis, we would like to explore the influence of heteroatom doping in the development of single atom catalysts and ex-solution catalysts, which are gaining attention as next-generation catalysts. First, in order to maximize the utilization of highly active metals, a study is conducted to control and analyze the dispersion of platinum catalysts at the atomic level. In addition, the study of applying ex-solution to the nano-structured cerium dioxide support and promoting the process through doping is conducted. The results of this thesis are expected to contribute to the catalyst design of various catalytic reactions as well as the proposed CO, $CH_4$ oxidation and $O_2$, $CO_2$ reduction reaction.