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

Gold nanoparticles have a high activity for CO oxidation, making them suitable to be used in a CO laser which maintains its efficiency and stability the recombination of CO and O produced by the CO decomposition. However, the high concentration of CO 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 /AlO 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 laser with the feed gases containing a high concentration of CO up to 60 vol% but a low concentration of O for the stoichiometric reaction with CO. An excellent performance for CO oxidation under CO-rich conditions could be achieved by decorating the surface of the AlO 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 poisoning.