Catalytic partial oxidation of methanol over Au–Pd bimetallic catalysts: a comparative study of SBA-16, SBA-16-CeO<Subscript>2</Subscript>, and CeO<Subscript>2</Subscript> as supports

Au–Pd catalysts supported on SBA-16, SBA-16-CeO₂, and CeO₂ had been studied for partial oxidation of methanol to produce H₂. The physicochemical characteristics of the catalysts prepared by deposition–precipitation using urea hydrolysis were examined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Temperature-programmed reduction (TPR), and H₂ temperature-programmed desorption (H₂-TPD) analyses. The results show that Au_xPd_y alloys are observed in Au–Pd/SBA-16 and Au–Pd/SBA-16-CeO₂ catalysts. The catalytic results demonstrate that both Au–Pd/SBA-16 and Au–Pd/SBA-16-CeO₂ catalysts exhibit higher activity and lower CO selectivity than the Au–Pd/CeO₂ catalyst. This could be ascribed to the formation of Au_xPd_y alloys. The comparison of the Au–Pd/SBA-16 and Au–Pd/SBA-16-CeO₂ catalysts reveals that the Au–Pd/SBA-16-CeO₂ shows the lower CO selectivity, probably due to the presence of CeO₂.