Rare earth oxides as carbon oxidation catalysts

✍ Scribed by D.W. McKee

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1985
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 608 KB
• Volume: 23
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0008-6223
• DOI: 10.1016/0008-6223(85)90232-5

✦ Synopsis

The behavior of a number of rare earth oxides as catalysts for the oxidation of graphite in air has been investigated by the methods of thermal analysis. Of the oxides studied, only CeO, showed significant activity in accelerating the gasification of graphite by oxygen between 500 and 1000°C. Cerium salts, which decompose to a finely dispersed oxide phase at low temperatures, e.g. Ce (III) nitrate and ammonium Ce (IV) nitrate, were found to be very active catalysts. The catalytic effect may be due to a redox process involving the cyclic conversion of the oxide from the Ce (IV) to the Ce (III) oxidation state, or the oxide particles may provide sites for the dissociative chemisorption of oxygen.