Efficient Ce-Co composite oxide decorated Au nanoparticles for catalytic oxidation of CO in the simulated atmosphere of a CO 2 laser.

Gold nanoparticles have a high activity for CO oxidation, making them suitable to be used in a CO 2 laser which maintains its efficiency and stability via the recombination of CO and O 2 produced by the CO 2 decomposition. However, the high concentration of CO 2 in the working environment greatly reduces the activity of the catalyst and makes the already unstable gold nanoparticles even more so. A novel Au/Ce-Co-O x /Al 2 O 3 gold catalyst, prepared by a deposition precipitation method in this study, displays high activity and good stability for CO oxidation in a simulated atmosphere of a CO 2 laser with the feed gases containing a high concentration of CO 2 up to 60 vol% but a low concentration of O 2 for the stoichiometric reaction with CO. An excellent performance for CO oxidation under CO 2 -rich conditions could be achieved by decorating the surface of the Al 2 O 3 support with Ce-Co composite oxides. The strong interaction between gold and the composite support, accompanied by the increase of labile lattice oxygen species and the decrease of surface basicity, led to a high CO oxidation rate and resistance towards CO 2 poisoning.