Morphology regulation of CuO/CeO₂ catalyst for simultaneous NH₃-SCR denitration and CO oxidation

The coexistence of NO_x and CO in industrial flue gases presents significant challenges for pollution control, while the simultaneous removal of these two contaminants offers a promising practical application way. This study synthesized CuO/CeO₂ bifunctional catalysts with nanorod (NR), nanoparticle (NP), and nanooctahedra (NO) morphologies of CeO₂ support, aimed at the simultaneous elimination of NO and CO via integrated NH₃-SCR and CO oxidation techniques. The results demonstrated that CuO/CeO₂-NR catalyst presented superior activity, achieving 91% NO removal at 225 °C and almost complete CO conversion at 175 °C. The enhanced catalytic performance was mainly attributed to the largest surface area, which promoted the uniform dispersion of active CuO species, providing abundant reactive sites. Furthermore, the high concentration of Ce³⁺ and O_α species enhanced redox cycle and intermediate formation, thereby improving the catalytic performance of both NH₃-SCR and CO oxidation reactions. In situ DRIFTS experiments further elucidated that the NH₃-SCR reaction on CuO/CeO₂-NR primarily proceeded via the Eley-Rideal (E-R) mechanism, whereas the CO oxidation followed the Mars-van Krevelen (MvK) mechanism. © 2025 Elsevier Ltd.